Consunji-owned Dacon ups stake in DMCI Holdings

MANILA,Philippines — Dacon Corp., the  privately held company of the Consunji family, has acquired more shares in listed engineering and tollways conglomerate DMCI Holdings Inc.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), DMCI Holdings said Dacon – which is a significant shareholder of the company – bought a total of three million shares in DMCI Holdings in two separate transactions.

On Oct. 28, Dacon acquired 1.3 million shares at an average price of P8.12 per share for a total amount of P10.4 million. The following day, DMCI Holdings acquired 1.8 million shares at P8.16 per share for a total amount of P14.3 million.

On Oct. 30, Dacon acquired another one million shares at an average price of P8.21 per share for a total consideration of P8.2 million. 

In all, Dacon acquired P30.6 million worth of shares of DMCI Holdings.

Sought for a comment, a source said: “ Instead of DMCI buying back into treasury, the family decided to buy the shares themselves since the shares are at a five-year low and the prospects of the company are good.”

DMCI shares have been trading at an average price of P8.32 per share compared to a 52-week high of P13.86 per share and 52-week low of P8.01 per share.

In the first half of the year, DMCI Holdings reported a 22 percent drop in net income to P6.7 billion.

The earnings slowdown was due to the weak contributions of Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC), DM Consunji Inc. (DMCI) and DMCI Mining.

For the second quarter alone, DMCI Holdings saw its earnings decline by 20 percent to P3.8 billion.

DMCI Holdings, however, is hopeful it can bounce back with several construction and housing projects lined up.

Property unit DMCI Homes has started construction of a new residential condominium project near Bonifacio Global City (BGC) to take advantage of the upcoming government infrastructure projects in the area.

The Allegra Garden Place is a two-tower development soon to rise along Pasig Boulevard in Pasig.

“We have high hopes on this project not just because of Prisma Residences’ success but also because of the potential opportunities presented by ongoing infra projects in the area like the BGC-Ortigas Center Link Road Project,” DMCI Homes assistant vice president for project development Dennis Yap said.

The bridge, which is targeted for completion by June 2020, will connect with the Lawton Avenue-Global City Viaduct to improve inter-city travel in Pasig, Mandaluyong, Taguig and Makati.

The group’s mining arm Zambales Diversified Metals Corp. also received the go signal from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to resume mine operations.

ZDMC was among the nine companies whose operations were suspended following a mining audit conducted by DENR.

Aside from DMCI, several listed companies such as Razon-led Bloomberry and  Megaworld have been buying back shares in the past months, propping up the value of their shares amid the prevailing market volatility.