Biz Buzz: Energy shakeout
Employees of an energy agency that figured prominently in news in the past weeks are quietly agonizing over the current leadership’s “tactics” of allegedly pushing some of the agency’s brightest minds to the edge and to the point of resignation, all for being associated with the previous leadership.
As it is, a good number of these experts, including a valuable team from this agency, already left in 2012. This year, the agency’s head had reportedly summoned three of his “vice presidents” for a talk, according to an insider. Point blank, the vice presidents were allegedly asked to resign as the head could no longer work with them on various counts. But since these officials are protected by a security of tenure, some chose to remain in their posts.
The agency head, however, is not making it easy for them. The projects under these VPs are no longer being made a priority and they are sometimes being left out of board meetings. At times, they are excluded from critical meetings as well.
The insider even branded the leadership as “vindictive” for working on the points of accusations and associations, rather than the merits of their hard work.
No wonder, the insider alleged, the mandate of this agency remained unfulfilled as not one of the activities it had planned since the Aquino administration took over had pushed through, while the energy-related debts it has been managing continued to balloon—huge liabilities that us consumers will eventually shoulder in the future.—Amy R. Remo
Capital entry
Capital Group of Companies Inc., a large US private investment firm based in California, is increasingly betting on the Philippine market even as some are starting to balk at local valuations. Capital Group has taken a position in the consumer sector with the acquisition of a 10.49-percent stake in retailer Puregold Price Club Inc. through two separate investment vehicles.
On Friday, Smallcap World Fund Inc., which is part of the Capital group, announced the acquisition of 5.09 percent of Puregold. This was on top of the 5.4 percent recently purchased by another affiliate.
The combined investment, worth around P12 billion as of Friday, makes the group the single biggest foreign institutional investor in Puregold and may be enough for the group to get a board seat. But since the two vehicles do not vote as a block, they are not likely to get any board seat, at least for now.
Capital Group also made a 9-percent investment last September in port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. for about P11.6 billion.—Doris C. Dumlao
Sachets vs the environment
Long before Biz Buzz reported that manufacturers of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) like shampoo and soap have skewed pricing policies to make sachet products cheaper, some of the country’s biggest supermarket chains have already started to notice consumers buying more items in smaller packages.
What is unusual about this is that more people have been migrating to sachet purchases—in bulk, mind you—despite the economy growing at a strong clip, being driven by the consumer sector. This defies the conventional logic that people would buy shampoo in bigger bottles when they have more disposable income (especially since we’re told that FMCG firms like Procter and Gamble have been charging more, on a per milliliter basis, for shampoo packaged in larger bottles compared to sachets).
Now, supermarket chains like those from the SM group are worried about the damage that this deluge of sachet packages would cause to the environment, especially when improperly disposed of (as many are wont to do).
“Sachets are priced cheaper than their bigger counterparts. Before, only budget-constrained people opt for the sachets. Now, with the way things are going, even people who buy the bottles will shift to buying sachets because of practicality,” said one official of a large supermarket chain. “But prices [of sachet products] should rise so that these products are discouraged, and conversely, prices for less environment-damaging packaging like bigger bottles should be made cheaper.”
At the same time, the supermarket official pointed out that consumers—long accustomed to the scheme where larger packages ultimately come cheaper than smaller ones—are getting the raw end of the deal under the FMCG firms’ “unusual” pricing methods.—Daxim L. Lucas
Bad romance
An official of a top 1,000 corporation is expected to leave her cushy office, which boasts of a spectacular view, anytime soon.
The official is being blamed for tolerating the caustic attitude of a “special friend” who works in the same company and who was kicked out recently for creating a furor among the sales staff.
Our buzzard said that this special friend was reportedly found to have abused the discretionary fund of the sales division, apparently with the consent of the top official.
Since the special friend had rubbed her co-workers wrongly with her abrasiveness and arrogance, it was only a matter of time before owners of the company got wind of the special friend’s shenanigans and rumors of the special friend’s inter-corporate affair with the top official.
While the top official’s impending firing is being painted as collateral damage from her special friend’s dismissal, our buzzard said that this top official had it coming in view of the company’s poor performance despite being the biggest and boldest in its field.
By the way, the special friend is also a woman and the company they work for is currently embroiled in a crisis.—Gil Cabacungan
