Ayala H1 profit grows 13%

MANILA  -The Zobel family conglomerate Ayala Corp. grew its profits during the first semester of 2023 as stronger contributions from banking, power and property businesses blunted losses from its electronics manufacturing division.

Ayala said net income from January to June rose 13 percent to P18.4 billion versus the same period last year. The company’s main business units are Bank of the Philippine Islands, Ayala Land, renewable energy firm ACEN Corp., Globe Telecom, and Integrated Micro-Electronics.

The conglomerate also underscored the strength of core income, which removes the impact of non-recurring items, as the figure surged 55 percent to P20.5 billion during the period. This was 38 percent higher than core earnings before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Strong results from BPI, Ayala Land, and ACEN compensated for the one-off provisions booked by AC Industrials,” Ayala president and CEO Cezar P. Consing said in a statement on Friday.

The holding company continued to grow profits even after IMI sold its British subsidiary STI Enterprises Ltd. Ayala booked a hefty one-time loss of P2.4 billion during the second quarter of the year.

The banking sector remains a bright spot for Ayala as BPI grew profits by 23 percent to P25.1 billion during the first half as it expanded assets while lending rates rose.

Ayala Land also reported a 41-percent profit surge to P11.4 billion as malls and property sales remained robust.

ACEN’s net income reached P4.2 billion during the first semester, up 94 percent, due to “higher net generation from a stronger wind regime and increased operating capacity that enabled a shift to a net selling merchant position”.

ACEN has about 4,400 Megawatts of attributable capacity from its facilities in the Philippines, Australia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. It has a renewable share of 98 percent, among the highest in the region, the conglomerate said.

Globe’s earnings fell 27 percent to P14.4 billion due to the absence of gains from asset sales last year, coupled with an increase in operating costs. Moreover, its mobile wallet venture GCash saw users climb 30 percent to 86 million, extending its lead as the country’s leading e-money platform.

“For the balance of the year, we will build on our solid first half results and continue to recycle capital wherever it makes sense to do so,” Consing said.