GT Capital Q1 profit dips

Ty family-led GT Capital Holdings Inc. saw an 8.1-percent year-on-year decline in first quarter net profit to P3.4 billion, weighed down by a slowdown in the automotive business.

Excluding nonrecurring items, GT Capital’s core profit slipped by 7.9 year-on-year to P3.5 billion in the first three months while group-wide revenues rose by 3 percent year-on-year to P47 billion.

Higher equity in net income of associates Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., AXA Philippines and Sumisho Motor Finance Corp., as well as from the conglomerate’s property investments, contributed to GT Capital’s financial performance.

“Solid growth in our financial services component companies, the early signs of recovery in the automotive sector, as well as positive developments in our property businesses led to revenue growth for GT Capital during the period. Easing inflation, sustained government infrastructure spending and improved consumer confidence give us optimism for the rest of the year,” GT Capital president Carmelo Maria Luza Bautista said in a press statement.

The automotive business under Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. saw a 25-percent drop in first quarter net profit to P1.8 billion as consolidated revenues were flat at P33.8 billion.

Toyota sold 33,554 vehicles to the retail market for the first quarter, down by 2.6 percent compared to 34,440 units in the previous year.

It was earlier reported that Metrobank had reported a 15-percent year-on-year growth in first quarter net profit on the back of higher interest earnings, fee-based income and treasury gains.

Insurance arm AXA Philippines’ consolidated net income also rose by 46 percent year-on-year to P808.4 million in the first quarter.

GT Capital’s property development subsidiaries, Federal Land Inc. and Property Company of Friends Inc., reported a combined net income of P431.1 million in the first quarter, up by 2 percent from the previous year.