Core businesses boost Ayala profits

Publicly listed Ayala Corp. Tuesday reported stronger nine-month performance figures, citing the robust contributions of its property, banking and water businesses to the bottomline.

In a statement, the flagship holding firm of the Zobel family said that consolidated net income for the January to September period reached P8.7 billion, or 19 percent higher than that of the same period last year.

Core net income—which excludes the impact of the accelerated depreciation from its telco unit and revaluation gains realized by its international property unit last year—reached P9.3 billion, representing a 31-percent year-on-year increase.

Ayala Corp. chairman and CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said he was pleased with the earnings performance of the firm’s core businesses and the continued improvement in profitability of our international units.

The conglomerate’s earnings growth was driven by equity earnings from its core and non-core businesses, which reached P11.1 billion in the first nine months, a 21-percent increase year-on-year.

Significant improvement in equity earnings of its international businesses also helped boost the conglomerate in the first nine months.

The company noted that its strong earnings momentum over the past quarters has pushed its share price up 49 percent year-to-date, outpacing the market’s 28-percent rise.

“Shares of its listed business units have likewise increased substantially over the period as they consistently delivered a solid earnings trajectory year-to-date,” it said in a statement.

The nine-month net income of Ayala Land—the country’s largest real estate developer—reached P6.6 billion, representing a 27 percent increase over last year, driven by strong revenues across all business lines.

Total revenue grew by 20 percent to P39 billion with its property development business up 27 percent year-on-year.