GT Capital’s income climbed 67% to P18.4b in 2022

By Jenniffer B. Austria

GT Capital Holdings Inc. said Friday consolidated net income grew 67 percent in 2022 to P18.4 billion from P11 billion in 2021 on the back of positive performance from banking and property subsidiaries.

Core net income also went up by 45 percent year-on-year to P15.9 billion.

GT Capital president Carmelo Maria Luza Bautista said the group managed to accelerate its recovery momentum in 2022 on strong economic growth, normalized mobility and resurgent consumption spending.

“Despite certain headwinds, namely higher inflation, elevated interest rates and foreign exchange volatility, the GT Capital group of companies delivered strong results across all sectors,” Bautista said.

“We remain optimistic with the outlook for the coming year and are confident in our strong market position in the key sectors we represent,” he said.

Banking unit Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company posted net income of P32.8 billion in 2022, up 48 percent from a year ago on better corporate and consumer lending businesses, healthy fee income, subdued operating expense growth and lower provisions amid stable asset quality.

Toyota Motor Philippines Inc. registered a P5.7-billion net income last year, slightly lower than P6 billion in 2021 following the deprecation of the peso against the US dollar.

Automotive sales improved 34 per- cent year-on-year to 174,106 units, with the launching of new and refreshed products and strong supply of both locally-produced and completely-builtup units from Thailand, Indonesia and Japan.

“The outlook for 2023 remains positive with the expected stabilization of exchange rates, the regularization of supply chains and the robust economic growth forecasted by the government,” GT Capital Auto and Mobility Holdings Inc. chairman Vince Socco said.

GT Capital’s wholly-owned property subsidiary Federal Land Inc. recorded a 363-percent increase in consolidated net income to P4.5 billion from P1 billion in 2021, driven by stronger reservation sales and a gain on its investment in Federal Land NRE Global Inc.

SM Prime expects to raise up to P35b from bond offering

PROPERTY developer SM Prime Holdings Inc. said Friday it is raising up to P35 billion from the issuance of fixed-rate bonds. SMPH said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it would offer up to P25 billion in fixed-rate bonds with an over-allotment option for another P10 billion. The bonds will have maturities of 2.5 years, 4 years and 6 years.

The bonds will be the fifth tranche from the company’s P100-billion three-year bond shelf registration program approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2020.

Philippine Ratings Services Corp. has assigned a rating of PRS Aaa to SMPH’s proposed bond offering.

PRS Aaa is the highest rating assigned by PhilRatings and denotes that such obligations are of the highest quality with minimal credit risk. It also indicates that the issuing company capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligations is extremely strong.

SMPH earlier reported plans to spend P80 billion in capital expenditures in 2023 primarily to roll out more residential and shopping malls.

SMPH plans to open three new malls and expand five existing ones this year, which will add 200,000 square meters of gross floor area.

SMPH had 9 million sq. m. of GFA across 82 shopping malls as of end2022.

SMPH also operates seven malls in China with total GFA of 1.4 million sq. m.

AGROSOLAR INITIATIVE. Employees of Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. lead the ceremonial harvest of pechay or local napa cabbage as part of the company’s pioneering agrosolar initiative at the Citicore Solar Tarlac 2 in Barangay Dalayap, Tarlac. The pechay crops, which were planted and grown alongside the solar panels, will be harvested in two cycles. CREC president and chief executive Oliver Tan says Citicore’s AgroSolar remains an essential complement to the company’s operations as it integrates solar power generation and farming.

First Gen’s reported 5% increase in recurring income to P265m in 2022

By Alena Mae S. Flores

FIRST Gen Corp., the Lopez Group‘s clean and renewable energy provider, said Friday its recurring net income went up 5 percent in 2022 to $265 million (P14.3 billion) from $252 million (P12.4 billion) in 2021.

First Gen said in a disclosure to the stock exchange its renewable platforms—geothermal and hydro—delivered higher earnings as a result of better operating income and lower interest expense.

Revenues also increased 23 percent in 2022 to $2.667 billion (P144.1 billion) from $2.167 billion (P106.3 billion) in the previous year.

The company derived higher revenues from increased volume of electricity sales and elevated fuel and Wholesale Electricity Spot Market prices.

“First Gen managed to produce better earnings for 2022, despite lower earnings in the first nine months. We saw EDC [Energy Development Corp.] make a strong recovery from the better performance of its geothermal plants, while the hydro platform delivered stable income,” First Gen president and chief operating officer Francis Giles Puno said.

“The natural gas platform was able to contain its fuel supply curtailment issues from Malampaya, and was able to sell more power in 2022. This led to a minimal decline in net income in the gas portfolio,” Puno said.

The natural gas portfolio accounted for 66 percent of First Gen’s total consolidated revenues, while 31 percent came from EDC’s geothermal, wind and solar plants. The remaining 3 percent came from the company’s hydro plants.

First Gen said its natural gas platform reported a 4-percent decrease in recurring earnings in 2022 to $190 million (P10.3 billion) from $198 million (P9.7 billion) in 2021.

The 97-MW Avion power plant’s Unit 1 experienced unscheduled outages due to turbine damage in December 2021 and was brought back to operations by February 2022.

SMPH has 328 hectares of property in its land bank that could be developed over the next five to seven years.

Jenniffer B. Austria

Alsons Consolidated earns P1.88b on strong power sales in Mindanao

ALSONS Consolidated Resources Inc. of the Alcantara Group said Friday net income went up by 42 percent in 2022 to P1.88 billion from P1.32 billion in 2021 on increasing power demand in Mindanao.

Alsons said net earnings attributable to the parent company also climbed 52 percent to P617 million from P405 million as revenues rose 19 percent to P11.99 billion from P10.05 billion.

“As expected, power demand in Mindanao continued to grow in 2022, as dayto-day activities in the island continued to normalize in the aftermath of the pandemic,” said Alsons deputy chief finan- cial officer Philip Edward Sagun.

The 210-megawatt Sarangani Energy Corp. baseload power plant continued to be the key revenue and income driver for the company. SEC provides power to key areas in Mindanao including Sarangani province, General Santos City, Cagayan de Oro City, Iligan City, Dipolog City, Dapitan City, Pagadian City, Samal Island, Tagum, Kidapawan and Butuan City.

The company’s 100-MW Western Mindanao Power Corp. diesel plant in Zamboanga City is another key revenue contributor. Alena Mae S. Flores