FDC bottom line up 19% in Jan to June

Gotianun family-led Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) reported an attributable net income of P6.1 billion in the first semester, up by 19 percent year-on-year on higher earnings from its property, banking and power businesses.

Listed banking arm EastWest Bank grew its first semester net income by 21 percent to P2.7 billion mainly due to higher fees and commissions and trading gains alongside lower credit costs. This translated to a return on equity of 12.3 percent.

EastWest Bank’s revenue and other income expanded by 25 percent to P17.5 billion in the first six months. This was driven mainly by a 37-percent increase in noninterest income, led by fees and commissions that grew by 30 percent to P2.7 billion, as well as trading gains of P630 million. The bank grew its loan book by 16 percent.

Group-wide, FDC grew revenue by 14 percent year-on-year to P37.23 billion in the first half.

The property business, composed of the real estate and hospitality segments, contributed more than half of FDC’s bottom line. Property arm Filinvest Land Inc. grew net profit in the first semester by 16 percent year-on-year to P3.21 billion.

Power subsidiary FDC Utilities Inc. also grew its net profit by 87 percent year-on-year to P1.4 billion in the first half.

Rental revenues from FLI as well as Filinvest Alabang Inc. grew by 31 percent to P3.7 billion on the back of the completion of six office buildings in 2018, adding a total of 118,000 square meters of gross leasable area (GLA) to its portfolio. The group is targeting a combined office and retail GLA of 1.7 million sqm by 2023.

Hotel operations grew revenue by 24 percent year-on-year to P1.6 billion.