Phinma Group profit more than doubles

MANILA, Philippines - Holding firm Phinma Corp. more than doubled its profits in the first half of the year as all its operating units turned in better performances.

In a regulatory filing, Phinma said its net income surged 102 percent to P171.3 million in the first semester from P84.8 million a year ago.

Core earnings, which strips off non-recurring gains like foreign exchange items, tripled to P194.5 million from P66.34 million, Phinma said. Its revenues climbed 13 percent to P2.5 billion.

Top income contributor was steel fabricator Union Galvasteel Corp. (UGC), whose revenues hit P1.68 billion, up 15 percent from P1.47 billion a year earlier.

“In addition to an increase in sales volume, gross profit rates improved 9.7 percent,” Phinma said.

“As a result, UGC ended the period with net income of P73.3 million, a 74-percent increase over the same period last year,” it added.

Phinma Education Network (PEN) also posted higher first half earnings at P48.4 million from P37.4 million in the same period last year.

“This partially reflects the 15-percent overall increase in enrollment for the first semester of the school year,” Phinma said.

PEN consists of Araullo University, Cagayan de Oro College, University of Pangasinan and University of Iloilo.

It expanded Cagayan de Oro College’s Basic Education Department and established a new Araullo University campus located in the southern district of Cabanatuan.

Phinma also registered an equitized income of P78.2 million from oil exploration and power generation firm Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. This is higher by 26 percent from last year’s P61.8 million given increased income from its electricity supply business.

For the property business, Phinma Property Holdings Corp. returned in the black as it recorded P10.3 million in earnings, turning around from a net loss of P50.3 million a year ago.

Phinma Properties more than doubled its revenues to P556.5 million from P239.3 million “as a result of new sales contributions from its Solano Hills and Arezzo Place Pasig projects,” Phinma said.

Foreign business consultancy Fuld & Co. Inc.’s profits rose to P2.9 million from P1.2 million, backed by an 11-percent growth in revenues to P250 million.