Ayala Corp profit hits record high in 2023

MANILA, Philippines — Core profit of conglomerate Ayala Corp. rose by nearly half to reach record high levels in 2023 due to the strong performances of its banking, real estate and power businesses.

Ayala’s core net income, which excludes one-off items, soared by 48 percent year-on-year to P41 billion.

Including one-offs, net income of the company rose by 39 percent to P38.1 billion from the previous year’s P27.4 billion.

The group generated total revenue of P341.9 billion, up 11.5 percent from P306.64 billion in 2022.

“We succeeded in getting aggregate core earnings to exceed the pre-pandemic high. Now we focus on getting better operating and financial results from each of our businesses and on rationalizing the portfolio where it makes sense to do so,” Ayala president and CEO Cezar Consing said.

Net income of its banking unit BPI climbed by 44 percent to P51.7 billion in 2023 due to strong loan growth, higher margins and lower provisions.

Robust property development and commercial leasing businesses, meanwhile, boosted Ayala Land Inc.’s earnings by 32 percent to P24.5 billion in 2023.

ACEN’s income from operating units, which excludes cash value realization gains and other one-time noncash adjustments, improved to P4.9 billion on the back of new operating capacity and a strengthened net seller position.

Telco operations through Globe, however, posted a 29-percent drop to P24.6 billion due primarily to the one-time gain from the partial sale of its data center business in 2022.

Ayala said AC Health, for its part, continued to progress in scaling its healthcare ecosystem, with acquisitions bolstering growth.

However, the company said AC Health’s net income remained slightly negative due to one-offs and higher manpower and marketing expenses.

AC Industrials trimmed its losses excluding one-offs to P1.2 billion from P1.7 billion due to better results from IMI’s core operations and AC Motor’s four-wheel business.

Capital expenditures of the Ayala group reached P247.7 billion, 12 percent lower than the previous year as a result of the tapering capex of Globe.

Parent capex was 55 percent lower to P13.2 billion due primarily to Ayala’s purchase of Ayala Land shares and participation in Globe’s stock rights offering, which both happened in 2022.