FDC nets P10.3B

The 244-ha Filinvest City

Gotianun-led Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) boosted net profit last year by 21 percent to P10.3 billion, driven by higher earnings from the banking, property and power generation businesses.

Group-wide revenues for 2017 increased by 15 percent to P67.6 billion last year, mostly contributed by banking (42 percent) and property (40 percent) segments and complemented by revenues from the power (15 percent) and sugar (3 percent) businesses.

Banking subsidiary EastWest Bank (EWB) chalked up a net profit of P5.1 billion in 2017, 48 percent than the previous year.

“We are delighted to see a 48-percent increase in net income even after the 70-percent increase in 2016,” FDC chair Jonathan Gotianun said on Tuesday.

As the most consumer-centric bank in the country, EWB’s consumer loans accounted for 71 percent of total loans. As a result, EastWest continued to maintain its industry-leading net interest margin (NIM) at 7.8 percent. NIM, net of provisions for loan losses, stood at 5.9 percent.

Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI), the group’s listed real estate firm, ended the year with net income of P5.8 billion last year, 9 percent higher than the previous year. This was achieved on the back of a record P20.3-billion in revenues, in turn largely due to a major expansion of its retail property portfolio and the continued demand for retail and office space.

This year, FLI is planning to launch P16 billion worth of residential projects, higher than the P14.6 billion worth of projects launched in Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Dumaguete, Davao and Iloilo last year.

On the power business, FDC Utilities Inc. delivered 32 percent more revenues in 2017, as the group’s flagship 3 x 135-megawatt clean coal facility in Misamis Oriental marked its first full year of commercial operations. “We are happy to support Mindanao’s growth through our power plant and look forward to serving more people in 2018,” said FDC president Josephine Gotianun-Yap.