GT Capital income sank 68% in 2020 to P6.5B

Ty family-led conglomerate GT Capital Holdings Inc. suffered a 68-percent drop in net profit to P6.5 billion last year as the COVID-19 pandemic dragged down its automotive, banking and property businesses.

Excluding nonrecurring items, core profit fell by 53 percent to P7.4 billion last year, GT Capital disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday.

“Our year-end 2020 results show the full impact of the pandemic and the consequent lockdown that hampered the group to effectively only seven months of operations. However, the strong performance posted during the last quarter under GCQ (general community quarantine) demonstrates the group’s resiliency to rebound on the path to normalcy,” GT Capital president Carmelo Maria Luza Bautista said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday.

“We are optimistic that despite the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, while alarming, will be mitigated once the preordered vaccines are delivered by June and September. We have taken the necessary steps to procure the vaccines to protect all our employees and contractual staff. We anticipate that 2021 will be less disruptive than the previous year,” he added.

Double-digit drop

Banking arm Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., automotive arm Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) and property arm Federal Land all suffered a double-digit drop in earnings. The only business that bucked the year’s downturn was the insurance operation under AXA Philippines.

Metrobank saw a 50.7-percent drop in 2020 net profit to P13.8 billion due to a much larger buffer set aside for probable loan losses. Before provisioning, Metrobank’s income increased by 26 percent to P61.8 billion last year.

TMP booked a 63-percent drop in consolidated net profit to P3.4 billion as full-year sales volume fell by 38 percent from 162,011 units sold during the prepandemic year 2019. However, TMP’s total retail sales of 100,019 units exceeded initial estimates of 90,000 units for 2020, while the volume decline was better than the industry-wide decrease of 41 percent.

Property arm Federal Land Inc. generated P624 million in 2020 net profit, down by 61 percent from the previous year amid restrictions in construction and sales activities during the quarantine periods. One bright spot, however, was its leasing activities, which generated a 17-percent growth in revenues to P1.8 billion during the period, driven by new tenants in commercial properties. Reservation sales, an indicator of future revenues, fell to P14.2 billion from P24.2 billion in 2019.

Meanwhile, AXA Philippines’ consolidated net income rose by 22 percent to P2.9 billion for the year. Consolidated life and general insurance gross premiums increased by 13 percent to P36.3 billion in 2020, driven by the life insurance segment, which rose by 19 percent year-on-year. Single premium sales surged by 55 percent, allowing AXA Philippines to post an annualized premium equivalent of P5.2 billion in 2020, down from P6.8 billion in the previous year, due to limited agent mobility and bank branch foot traffic amid lockdown protocols. INQ