Conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) posted an 11-percent year-on-year decline in first semester net profit to P5.4 billion due to a drop in its flagship power business.
For the second quarter, net profit grew by 3 percent year-on-year to P5.4 billion due to nonrecurring treasury gains and a rebound in banking profits. Excluding one-off gains, AEV’s core net income for the second quarter went down by 6 percent year-on-year to P5 billion.
“While challenges to our bottom line continue to persist, we have seen recovery across our entire portfolio compared to the same period last year and the previous quarter,” Erramon Aboitiz, AEV president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
AEV booked nonrecurring gains of P412 million in the second quarter, primarily due to unrealized foreign exchange gains on the revaluation of dollar-denominated net liabilities, versus the P42 million in net foreign exchange loss in the corresponding period in 2018.
Total nonrecurring gains for the six-month period hit P78 million, a turnaround from the P467 million in nonrecurring losses in the previous year. Without the one-off gains, AEV’s core net income for the first half was P8.9 billion, down 16 percent year-on-year.
The power segment accounted for 67 percent of the total business in the first semester, followed by financial services, which accounted for 24 percent. Food, infrastructure and real estate accounted for 6 percent, 2 percent and 1 percent, respectively.
Flagship Aboitiz Power Corp. contributed P6.7 billion in net income for the first half, down 5 percent year-on-year. The generation and retail electricity supply businesses posted income contribution of P8.1 billion.
Income contribution from banking arm Union Bank rose by 3 percent year-on-year to P2.4 billion in the first half.
AEV’s nonlisted food subsidiaries—Pilmico Foods, Pilmico Animal Nutrition and AEV International—contributed P552 million in net income to AEV, down 17 percent year-on-year. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA