Ayala Corp. says Q2 net income slower on BPI results

Conglomerate Ayala Corp. (AC) booked a net income of ?8.1 billion in the second quarter of 2017, up 2 percent but relatively flat from P7.99 billion a year earlier, due to lower contribution from its banking unit.

"That's a result of BPI's performance last year ... The reason why our second quarter is relatively slower or relatively flat than last year's second quarter? It's because last year's second quarter had a gain from BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands), which was at P4.8 billion," AC chief finance officer Jose Teodoro Limcaoco told reporters in a press briefing in Makati City on Friday.

"We look at it as business as usual ... It's still a healthy result both from BPI's and our perspective if you take that P4.8 billion," Limcaoco noted.

In the first six months of the year, the company posted a net income of P15.1 billion, up 9 percent from P13.77 billion, on the back of solid contributions from its real estate and power generation units.

“We are pleased with the overall strong performance of our businesses. The active portfolio management, new business initiatives, and financial discipline we employed in recent years – supported by a healthy domestic economy – continue to bolster Ayala’s growth trajectory,” AC president and CEO Fernando Zobel de Ayala said in a separate statement.

Property unit Ayala Land recorded a net income of P11.5 billion, up 18 percent, amid continued expansion of property development and commercial leasing businesses.

Power generation unit AC Energy’s net income surged by 64 percent at P949 million due to favorable wind regime, improved efficiencies of operating coal plants combined with feed-in-tariff earnings from its solar plant, as well as fresh contributions from Chevron’s geothermal assets in Indonesia.

BPI saw its net income drop 8 percent at P11.7 billion in the first semester as continued investments to ramp up digitization strategy, coupled with lower securities trading gains, tempered its earnings growth.

Globe Telecom sustained its topline growth on robust demand for data-related services across its product segments, with revenue expanding by 5 percent to P62.9 billion.

Manila Water's net income stood at P3.2 billion, up 3 percent, driven by steady performance of its Manila concession coupled with increasing contributions from its domestic subsidiaries.

AC Industrials registered a net income of P739 million, down 3 percent as lower contributions from the vehicle retail business tempered gains from the robust performance of electronics manufacturing.

AC Infrastructure continues to improve efficiencies in its three public-private partnership projects.

Light Rail Manila Corp., the operator of LRT-1, averaged close to 430,000 in daily ridership in the first semester.

In addition, the Beep ticketing system now has nearly four million cards in circulation and has processed approximately P7.2 billion in transactions across rail, bus, and retail platforms since it was released in 2015. — VDS, GMA News