San Miguel Corp. nets P13.5 billion

CONGLOMERATE San Miguel Corp.’s first quarter net profit surged by 122 percent year-on-year to P13.5 billion on the back of robust food, beverage and packaging businesses plus higher revenues from its power and infrastructure units.

The group also gained from improved operating efficiencies that boosted margins for oil refining unit Petron Corp. amidst the slump in oil prices.

This net profit level of P13.5 billion for the first three months included equity attributed to minority interest.

SMC’s group-wide operating income rose by 38 percent to P22.82 billion for the first quarter from the previous year.

Beer unit San Miguel Brewery reported a 23 percent growth in first quarter net profit to P4 billion while hard liquor arm Ginebra San Miguel posted a 288 percent improvement in net profit to P54 million.

Food unit San Miguel Purefoods Co. Inc. posted a 34 percent growth in three-month net profit to P1.22 billion, driven by the performance of its feeds, poultry and branded value-added businesses.

Petron’s net profit skyrocketed to P2.76 billion from only P257 million in the previous year. SMC said Petron had “weathered the prolonged slump in oil prices as it reported better first quarter results both from its Philippines and Malaysian operations.”

Meanwhile, the packaging business posted a three-month operating income of P597 million, rising by 25 percent while the operating income of power unit SMC Global Power posted a 7 percent rise in operating income to P7.31 billion.

The infrastructure arm San Miguel Holdings posted a first-quarter operating income of P2.43 billion, up by 16 percent year-on-year.

Ongoing projects include: the NAIA Expressway which is expected to finish a significant portion by end-June this year; Skyway Stage 3, TPLEx phase 3, SLEX TR4, the Bulacan Bulk Water Project and MRT-7 which, following its groundbreaking held last April 20, will start construction soon.

Meanwhile, its Boracay Airport is scheduled to start jet operations by the second quarter of this year while construction of a new and bigger terminal is expected to commence by November.