JG Summit nets P2.1 billion in Q2

MANILA, Philippines — JG Summit Holdings Inc., the investment vehicle of the Gokongwei Group, recorded a second quarter core net income of P2.1 billion, a 48 percent rebound from a net loss of P689 million in the first quarter.

All businesses posted growth during the second quarter including airline, mall and hotel operations.

JG Summit president and CEO Lance Gokongwei welcomed the group’s second quarter recovery but noted that challenges remain.

“Our overall business has benefitted from the reopening of the economy as evidenced by the sequential improvement on our operating results on a quarterly basis. We are cognizant that significant challenges remain in the near term with the extraordinary cost pressures, rising interest rates and peso devaluation,” he said.

JG Summit’s different businesses namely airline through Cebu Air Inc.; property through Robinsons Land Corp.; food through Universal Robina Corp.; petrochemicals through JG Summit Olefins Corp. and banking through Robinsons Bank Corp. have implemented measures on how to mitigate the margin erosion through selective pricing actions and productivity initiatives.

“Given the strong demand for products and services despite the high inflationary environment in the first half, we remain optimistic that further easing of restrictions especially on international travel as well as the resumption of face-to-face classes in the second half will sustain the topline growth momentum,” Gokongwei said.

On a year-to-date basis, JG Summit’s first half core net income after tax is still 15 percent lower versus same period last year “due to the unprecedented volatility in oil and input prices that negatively affected the group’s margins and was most felt in its petrochemicals business.”

Including the adverse impact of the significant peso depreciation on the company’s foreign currency denominated debt, JG Summit posted a consolidated net loss of P2.7 billion in the first half.

Its consolidated revenues rose by 53 percent year on year and 27 percent quarter-on-quarter to P84.4 billion in the second quarter alone.

This brought the group’s total revenues for the first half of the year to P151.1 billion, which is 29 percent higher versus the same period last year and is already over 95 percent back to its pre-pandemic level.