Ayala group’s consolidated profit rose by 12% in ’12
Conglomerate Ayala Corp. grew its consolidated net profit last year by 12 percent to P10.6 billion on higher contribution from its real estate, banking and water businesses.
Excluding the group’s nonrecurring items, core net income rose by 32 percent to P11.6 billion. Extraordinary items include the impact of the accelerated depreciation arising from the network modernization of its telecom unit and the revaluation gains realized by its international property and electronics units.
Consolidated revenue also increased by 16 percent to P125 billion, Ayala Corp. told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday.
“We are encouraged by the robust performance of our core businesses and improved profitability of our international businesses. This validates the programs and strategies we have implemented across the group over the past two years,” Ayala Corp. president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala said in a statement.
“The strong and sustainable earnings trajectory and steady cash flows from our core businesses have enabled us to scale up our investments in the new businesses we are pursuing in the power and transport infrastructure spaces. We envision these two emerging sectors to serve as platforms for future growth,” he said.
Equity earnings reached P14.3 billion in 2012, a 16-percent increase year-on-year driven by Ayala Land Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands and Manila Water Co. Significant improvement in equity earnings of its automotive, electronics (Integrated Microelectronics Inc.) and business process outsourcing units provided an added boost to Ayala’s equity earnings in 2012.
Its share in the revenue of Ayala’s BPO business unit, LiveIt, reached a record $343 million, up by 8 percent from year-ago level, while the share in cash flow as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) grew to a record $32 million, up by 36 percent. As a result, LiveIt trimmed its annual net loss, which was primarily due to the amortization of intangibles and interest expense related to leveraged buyout of Stream. LiveIt finished the fourth quarter with share of Ebitda of about $10 million, representing the eighth straight quarter of year-on-year Ebitda growth.
Last year, the Ayala group spent about P150 billion in capital expenditures, the highest in its 179-year history. Apart from the new investments of its core business, the amount was used to fund the parent company’s investment programs, including the acquisition of the 10.4-percent stake unloaded by DBS Bank of Singapore in Bank of the Philippine Islands. The Ayala group raised its ownership in the bank to 44 percent.
The parent company’s acquisitions of various power assets to build its portfolio in the sector also formed part of the capital expenditures.
