JG Summit’s net profit grew by 151% to P13B in 1st half of 2014

SCREENGRAB from www.jgsummit.com.ph

MANILA, Philippines—Gokongwei-led JG Summit Holdings Inc. jacked up its first semester net profit by 151.3 percent year-on-year to P13 billion as extraordinary items added to the growth in core earnings.

Of the six-month income, P8.12 billion was achieved in the second quarter due to some foreign exchange gains, recognition of equity earnings from its new investment in Manila Electric Co. and gain on sale of shares in online recruitment website JobStreet amounting to P1.45 billion.

Excluding non-recurring items, JG Summit reported that core net income increased by 30.5 percent to P10.32 billion in the first semester. Cash flow as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose by 31.1 percent to P24.33 billion in the first half compared to the level in the same period in 2013.

Consolidated revenues grew by 17.1 percent to P88.53 billion. Equity earnings from associated companies and joint ventures increased by 323 percent year-on-year to P3.81 billion for the six-month period, primarily due to the equity earnings from Meralco amounting to P2.61 billion.

For first half of 2014, total revenues of food and beverage arm Universal Robina Corp. increased by 13.5 percent year-on-year to P45.74 billion while airline unit Cebu Air’s revenues were up by 23 percent to P26.72 billion. Property unit Robinsons Land Corp. also increased revenues by 6.7 percent to P8.45 billion for the period.

As of the end of June, JG Summit Petrochemicals still operated marginally as its integrated naphtha cracker and polymer operation went into commissioning stage and its first trial runs. Equity in net earnings of associates, primarily from investments in Singaporean property development holding firm UIC Ltd. and Meralco, increased by 323 percent to P3.81 billion year-on-year mainly because of the addition of Meralco in the portfolio.

Banking unit Robinsons Bank Corp. reported a net income of P125.62 million for the six months ended June 30, marking a 66.9-percent decline year-on-year due to lower trading gains.

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