The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

Filipino consumers who access piracy sites for movies during the pandemic lockdown grew from 61% from only 49%, according to a study by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL).  IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba cited data from a recent YouGov survey commissioned by the Coalition Against Piracy to emphasize the significance of its partnership with the Motion …

The Philippine travel and tourism sectors is projected to grow at an annual average rate of 6.7% over the next 10 years, outpacing the expected gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 5.6%, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).  WTTC president and chief executive Julia Simpson said at the WTTC Annual Global Summit in Manila that employment …

Losing subscribers for the first time in more than a decade, Netflix must confront the challenge of stagnation from a position of strength.  A drop of just 200,000 users — less than 0.1 percent of its total customer base — was enough to send Wall Street panicking, with shares plunging more than 30%.  The loss of subscribers and the company’s …

The country’s economic growth is projected to return to 6.5% by end of 2022, only to slightly fall back to 6.3% in 2023 as a result of increased economic activity due to election spending, according to the latest World Economic Outlook of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  This IMF estimate for the Philippines is higher than the 5.3% average growth …

SM Foundation (SMFI) is inviting incoming college freshmen to apply for the SM College Scholarship program for School Year 2022-2023.  The SM Scholarship Program started from the vision of the late SM patriarch, Henry “Tatang” Sy, Sr. He believed that if you send one child from an economically challenged family to college, that child would have more opportunities to have …

The heightened implementation of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)’s digitalization transformation (DX) programs, complemented by its growing workforce of young and skilled professionals under the Duterte administration, enabled the agency to steadily improve its collection performance and broaden the taxpayer base in 2021.  BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay reported that 4.63 million business taxpayers were registered last year despite the …

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) recently signed new memorandums of agreement with two of its rehabilitation partners to continuously heighten the public’s awareness on the state-run gaming firm’s responsible gaming program.  PAGCOR formally renewed its ties with the Bridges of Hope and the Life Change Recovery Center on 7 April 2022 to thwart the ill-effects of uncontrolled gambling …

As part of the 2022 Earth Day Celebration, Manila Water, together with its partner agencies, kicked off a 2-day environmental event with a theme, “Saving the Earth: Securing Water for the Future”.  Manila Water was joined by its partner organizations Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), National Water and Resources Board (NWRB), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), …

MREIT, Inc., the REIT company of the country’s largest office landlord Megaworld, declared dividends of P0.243 per share to its shareholders based on its income for the first quarter of 2022.  The cash dividends will be payable on May 31, 2022 to stockholders on record as of May 10, 2022.  MREIT’s dividend policy contemplates quarterly distribution of dividends.  Reflecting the …

Emperador Inc. – the largest global brandy company owning the world’s iconic and best-selling brandy, Emperador Brandy – recorded a normalized net profit of P10.8 billion in 2021, reflecting a robust 35% increase from 2020’s net profit of P8 billion. Normalized net profit to owners went up by 34% year-on-year to P10.6 billion last year. Revenues rose by 6% to …