JG Summit bottom line also hobbled by typhoon

Gokongwei-led conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc. posted a first-quarter net profit of P4.88 billion, only slightly higher than the P4.86 billion racked up in the same period last year, due to extraordinary losses from Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, JG Summit said it recorded extraordinary losses of P215 million due to Yolanda, which devastated the shopping mall of property unit Robinsons Land Corp. in Tacloban.

Core profit, however, was up by 12.1 percent year-on-year to P5.33 billion, excluding the impact of treasury gains or losses, market valuations and other one-off items.

Consolidated revenues rose by 12.2 percent year-on-year to P43.23 billion due to the strong performance of its major subsidiaries. Dividend income generated from core investments in telecom giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., among others, went up by 4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter to P2.01 billion.

Food unit Universal Robina Corp.’s attributable net income increased by P582 million to P2.86 billion in the first quarter on a double-digit growth in its branded consumer food business. Doris C. Dumlao