GT Capital profit skids 5.6%

Ty family-led conglomerate GT Capital Holdings Inc.’s net profit last year slipped by 5.6 percent to P13.4 billion on lower earnings from the automotive business.

Excluding nonrecurring items, GT Capital’s core net profit for the year reached P13.7 billion, down by 8.7 percent from the previous year.

“GT Capital weathered strong headwinds in 2018 as soft vehicle unit sales were cushioned by noteworthy results in our financial services, property and insurance businesses. Tapering inflation, declining interest rates, persistent growth in overseas Filipino remittances and election-related spending should reboot consumer confidence. Thus, we are optimistic for the rest of 2019,” GT Capital president Carmelo Maria Luza Bautista said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

GT Capital posted consolidated revenue of P215.8 billion last year, down from P239.8 billion in 2017. Higher equity in net income of associates Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., Metro Pacific Investments Corp., AXA Philippines, Toyota Financial Services Philippines (TFS) and Sumisho Motor Finance Corp., as well as from property units, contributed to GT Capital’s financial performance.

Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) reported consolidated revenue of P159.2 billion in 2018, 14 percent lower than the previous year’s bottom line. TMP’s consolidated net income reached P8 billion, down 39 percent from the previous year.

Despite the industry’s difficulties, TMP remained the dominant player in the local automobile sector with a 38.2-percent market share.

Also last year, AXA Philippines’ consolidated net income rose by 25 percent to P3.1 billion. Consolidated life and nonlife gross premiums for the year reached P35.4 billion, up 10 percent from the previous year. Life insurance sales in annualized premiums rose by 13 percent to P7.1 billion.

Property units Federal Land Inc. and Property Company of Friends Inc. (Pro-Friends) posted a combined net income of P2.4 billion, up 13 percent. Combined revenue grew by 30 percent last year to P23.8 billion. Combined real estate sales for the period also grew by 30 percent to P20.1 billion.

It was earlier reported that Metrobank grew its net income last year by 21 percent to P22 billion. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA