Benpres turns around, posts P475-million net income in 1st half

MANILA, Philippines - Benpres Holdings Corp., the publicly-listed investment arm of the Lopez family, reported a net income of P475 million in the first half this year, a reversal of the P647-million loss incurred in the same period a year earlier.

In a financial report filed with securities regulators, Benpres said its unaudited consolidated revenues rose 14 percent to P11.69 billion on higher contributions from flagship firm ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. and utilities holding company First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPHC).

Equity in net earnings of subsidiaries grew four-fold to P474 million from only P117 million as FPHC swung back to profitability, with net earnings hitting P896 million from a net loss of P230 million. The turnaround in FPHC’s financial performance was driven by the increase in net income of power utility giant Manila Electric Co. and low foreign exchange losses.

ABS-CBN, meanwhile, chalked in a net income of P813 million, up eight percent from P754 million as consolidated revenues grew 14 percent to P11.7 billion. Airtime revenues amounted to P6.7 billion or six percent higher than the previous year while direct sales increased 28 percent to P5 billion following the consolidation of SkyCable.

Unaudited consolidated expenses went up four percent to P10.41 billion from P10.069 billion.

Foreign exchange losses fell 76 percent to P180 million from P745 million as the peso depreciated to 48.13 to a dollar in June 2009 from 47.52 in December 2008.

Provision for losses likewise decreased 34 percent to P69 million from P104 million on account of lower interest paid on Bayan Telecommunication Holdings’ convertible preferred shares.

Bayan’s losses declined 66 percent to P542 million from a P1.59-billion loss last year mainly due to higher revenues from its wireless, data and managed services.

SkyCable, meanwhile, incurred a net loss of P20 million during the period under review as against a net profit of P101 million a year earlier, largely due to heavy investments in the roll-out of its SkyBroadband offering.

Meanwhile, property development unit Rockwell Land’s net income stayed flat at P329 million due to slightly lower sales from residential projects — Joya and One Rockwell.

As of end-June this year, total assets of Benpres rose five percent to P58.6 billion as against liabilities of P30.87 billion.

Unrealized gain on fair value of adjustments of available-for-sale investments rose 75 percent to P500 million from P285 million with the improvement in the market value of owned shares of Digital Telecommunications Co.