JG Summit income up 63%

MANILA, Philippines — JG Summit Holdings, the listed conglomerate of the Gokongwei Group, posted a net income of P31.3 billion last year, up 63 percent.

Core net income after tax grew 13 percent to P25.3 billion.

The topline increased three percent year-on-year to P301.8 billion driven by robust passenger volumes, better yields and higher ancillary revenues in the company’s airline business, wider net interest margins  and trading gains in the banking unit as well as the P3 billion share in United Industrial Corp. Limited’s (UIC) gain arising from its acquisition of additional shares in Marina Centre Holdings and Marina Mandarin Hotel.

However,  these were tempered by slower growth in our international branded consumer foods (BCF) and agro-industrial and commodities (AIC) divisions as well as lower sales volume and average selling prices in our petrochemicals business.

JG Summit president and chief executive officer Lance Gokongwei said after a very challenging 2018, the company saw strong recovery as the company posted significant earnings expansion last year.

Moving forward, Gokongwei said the plan is to sustain this growth in the coming years.

“We have clearly laid out our strategic priorities leveraging on the strength of our group ecosystem while at the same time drive focus in strengthening our organizational and people capabilities – accelerating digital transformation, embedding a customer-centric culture and adopting global best practices in enterprise sustainability,” he said.

“We also hope to navigate the current difficult environment brought about by the global pandemic (COVID-19) and expect to be resilient given the diversity of our portfolio and the strength of our balance sheet. With the help of our employees and our different stakeholders, we are confident that we will only emerge stronger, united, and more prepared to forge ahead,” Gokongwei said.

In terms of specific business performance, URC churned in revenue of P134.2 billion, up five percent.

This was moderated by softer results in our Thailand, Oceania and Vietnam markets, but the recovery in Vietnam resulted in better operating margins. Hence, URC’s net income grew six percent to P9.8 billion.

RLC, meanwhile, delivered strong results with net income rising six percent to P8.7 billion as revenue increased by three percent to P30.2 billion.

Cebu Pacific, meanwhile, reported a net income of P9.1 billion, up 133 percent on sustained double-digit growth in passenger volume, higher average fares, and increased ancillary revenue per passenger.

For Petrochemicals, revenues declined 31 percent to P29.1 billion on the back of the weakened market conditions brought about by protracted US-China trade tensions.

Robinsons Bank, meanwhile,  posted a 126 percent growth in net income to P19.4 million as net interest margins continued to widen.