Lopez group profit down 43% in 9 months

The main holding company of the Lopez family saw its profit decline in the nine months through September this year on lower earnings from its power and media units.

Lopez Holdings Corp. told the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday that its net income during the period hit P3.17 billion, down 43 percent from year-ago level. The drop came even as it recorded a 19-percent increase in revenue to P77.94 billion from January to September this year.
Lopez Holdings attributed this to the one-off losses in its power business through First Philippine Holdings Corp. and the lack of election-related spending at ABS-CBN Corp.

Specifically, Lopez Holdings said First Philippine Holdings booked a 49-percent decline in net income during the nine-month period. This was due to one-off losses related to the prepayment of debts of units First Gas Power Corp. and Energy Development Corp.

“The one-off losses, absence of one-off gains, and unfavorable forex [ foreign exchange] movement led to the lower income,” Lopez Holdings noted.

It said removing nonrecurring items, consolidated net income would have been higher by 5 percent due to better earnings from Rockwell Land Corp. and its manufacturing businesses.

In the same period, Lopez Holdings cited the 20-percent decline in ABS-CBN’s profit to P2.3 billion while revenue slid by 5.1 percent to P29.5 billion.

ABS-CBN also reported a decline in nine-month recurring advertising revenue, which was lower by 3 percent to P15.3 billion. ABS-CBN, however, said consumer sales during the period hit P14.2 billion, up 11 percent. —MIGUEL R. CAMUS