Ayala Corp. cites gains across core businesses

Conglomerate Ayala Corp. said earnings in the first nine months of 2015 rose as it cited gains across its telecommunications, real estate and banking units, apart from a non-recurring gain realized in the third quarter of the year.

Ayala said in a stock exchange filing that net income hit P17.7 billion, up 26 percent. It said the figure was bolstered by capital gains primarily from the partial sale of AC Energy’s stake in North Luzon Renewable Energy Corp. this year and the divestment of Stream Global Services in the previous year. Without these, Ayala said net income during the period was still up 23 percent over the same nine-month period in 2014.

Its business units combined also delivered equity earnings contribution of P21.4 billion, up 14 percent, the country’s oldest conglomerate disclosed.

In the third quarter alone, Ayala registered a net income of P7.3 billion, up 72 percent.

“Our growth trajectory remains strong as we continue to be optimistic about the overall domestic environment,” Ayala president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala said in a statement.

Apart from its core businesses, Ayala cited developments from its newest arm in infrastructure development.

AC Infrastructure, through Light Rail Manila Corp., the concessionaire for the operations, maintenance and extension of LRT 1, took over the operations of the LRT Line 1 last September and has begun to introduce station rehabilitation and improvements.

Its toll road, the Muntinlupa Cavite Expressway, has likewise started full commercial operations last July and has steadily ramped up traffic, while its automated fare collection systems project under AF Payments Inc. has completed the roll out of its Beep cards on LRT lines 1 and 2 and MRT 3 with take-up hitting past the one million mark.

Ayala is also involved in the power generation business as AC Energy Holdings registered a net income of 1.6 billion in the first nine months of the year. Miguel R. Camus