Conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) expects to return to prepandemic profitability next year as new businesses, including a key power plant in Mariveles, Bataan province, will start operating at full capacity and create a new revenue stream.
“Return to prepandemic level has got to be the hardest question. There are so many delays [in economic recovery] because of so many unexpected things happening with the pandemic,” AEV chief executive officer Sabin Aboitiz said at a press briefing Monday night.
AEV’s target is to achieve a profitability level close to prepandemic levels this year and surpass those levels by next year, he said.
The conglomerate chalked up a P2-billion net profit attributable to equity holders of parent company in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the global economy. In 2020, its net profit declined by 30 percent to P15.4 billion as the pandemic dragged down the domestic economy to its worst recession in postwar history.
Risks of a third wave of COVID-19 cases could further delay the recovery.
“But definitely, the only difference is by the second half of this year and next year, we’ll start with new investments and [there are] new businesses coming in, including the one starting this year,” Aboitiz said. Aboitiz is referring to the Dinginin Plant, a 2×668-megawatt “supercritical” coal-fired power plant in Mariveles, Bataan province.
One of the biggest headwinds is adapting to what the “better normal” would turn out to be, he said.
“In three to five years, we don’t know how the world will work or will be, what talent and skills we’re going to need,” he said.