AEV slashes 2020 capex budget

Conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) is spending much less on capital outlays than originally budgeted this year but it is investing more in the protection of its manpower as it adjusts to a more challenging business environment brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

AEV slashed its group-wide capital spending budget this year to P47 billion from the original P73 billion to conserve resources amid the pandemic. This was also lower than AEV’s capital expenditures (capex) last year.For the most part, the Aboitiz Group is optimistic it can weather headwinds from the pandemic and the consequent global recession.

“Most of our businesses are in industries that are vital to keeping the economy running. Filipinos need electricity, food products and money, for example. For our other businesses, we have been prudent in capital spending so this should not be much of a problem,” Sabin Aboitiz, Aboitiz group president and chief executive officer, said during AEV’s stockholders meeting on Monday.

The new capital expenditure budget pushes back some spending plans, particularly on the infrastructure, power and property businesses. These covered operating, maintenance and expansion costs.Aboitiz said digital infrastructure investments in previous years and regular business continuity planning had allowed AEV to cope with the adverse impact of the coronavirus. “While it’s anyone’s guess how the future will unfold, we assure our stakeholders that we are fully equipped and prepared to guarantee the continuity of all business transactions,” he said.

“One of the first steps we took was to protect our team members. We earmarked P900 million in assistance (early release of end-March salary and the 13th or 14th month pay) to help team members cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. We did more online work and work from home—preventive measures are going to be the name of the game until a COVID-19 vaccine is developed,” Aboitiz said. INQ