Ayala group 2015 profit jumps 20% to P22.3B

Conglomerate Ayala Corp. grew its net profit last year by 20 percent to P22.3 billion, beating a new milestone ahead of target, due to the strong performance of its real estate and telecommunications businesses and new contribution from its power generation unit.

Excluding non-recurring items, Ayala’s 2015 net profit grew by 24 percent, the company said in a statement.

There was a one-time capital gain largely from the partial sale of AC Energy’s stake in North Luzon Renewable Energy Corp. in 2015.  In the comparative period, there was also one-time gain from the divestment of Stream Global Services.

The conglomerate booked higher equity earnings contribution from business units, which rose by 13 percent to P28 billion.

Group-wide consolidated revenue, including the combined revenue of subsidiaries and share from associates’ earnings, surpassed the P200-billion mark, up 11 percent from a year ago.

“We achieved a number of milestones as a group in the past year, with most of our major businesses continuing to perform well,” Ayala president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala said.

“In 2015, we strengthened our growing portfolio of power and infrastructure investments, with various projects coming to fruition. In addition, we increased our investments in social infrastructure, as we entered the healthcare space and deepened our presence in education.” Zobel added.

“In power, we currently have about 600 megawatts of attributable capacity across conventional and renewable platforms as our assets came online and reached more efficient operating levels. In transport infrastructure, we opened the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway, launched the Beep ticketing system, and took over the operations and management of LRT1,” he said.

Unlisted unit AC Energy Holdings posted an income of P2.1 billion in 2015.

For 2016, Ayala has set capital spending at P22.4 billion at the parent level mainly to fund its pipeline of power generation projects. At the group level, it earmarked P174 billion to support the growth strategy of real estate and telecom units.

It was earlier reported that the following key units performed in 2015 as follow:

Ayala Land’s net income rose by 19 percent to P17.6 billion;

Globe Telecom posted another record year, with net income surging 23 percent to P16.5 billion due to solid revenues from data services across mobile, broadband and fixed line segments. The P1.2-billion gain from the sale of its stake in Yondu Inc. also lifted Globe’s earnings during the year. Core net income grew by 4 percent.

Bank of the Philippine Islands reported net earnings of P18.2 billion in 2015, up 1.1 percent.

Manila Water posted a 2 percent-growth in consolidated net income to P6 billion.

Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. reported flat net income of $28.8 million.