Aboitiz Equity posts 16% profit growth in H1

MANILA, Philippines—Aboitiz Equity Ventures, the holding firm of the Aboitiz family, posted a 16-percent year-on-year increase in its first-semester profit to P11.8 billion, on the back of a double-digit growth in the earnings contributions of its power and banking businesses.

Excluding a one-off item, AEV’s core earnings for the first semester stood at P11.3 billion, higher by 16 percent year on year.  For the second quarter alone, AEV’s core net income went up by 7 percent year on year to P5.8 billion.

AEV’s power business continued to account for the biggest chunk of the profit at 79 percent of total, while the banking and food units contributed 17 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

Flagship Aboitiz Power Corp. ended the first semester with an income contribution of P9.4 billion, up from P8.1 billion a year ago. When adjusted for non-recurring items, AP recorded a 17-percent year-on-year expansion in its earnings share to P8.9 billion.

For the first semester of 2012, AEV’s banking units contributed almost P2 billion in income, 37 percent higher from a year ago. This was fueled mostly by Union Bank of the Philippines whose earnings contribution of P1.8 billion expanded by 44 percent year on year on the back of higher net interest income and hefty trading gains.

AEV incurred a non-recurring gain of P725 million during the six-month period, up from the P109 million in one-off items in the same period last year.

The power business booked a non-recurring net loss during the semester as the gains from the redemption of shares made by its associate companies during the first quarter of 2012 were eaten up by the high fuel cost booked by its geothermal plants and the debt prepayment cost incurred by the parent firm.