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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Cebu Pacific's net income gets a lift from increase in passengers

The country’s largest budget airline saw its profit rise by two-thirds last year.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Gokongwei-owned Cebu Air Inc (CEB) said it earned P853.5 million in 2014, up 67 percent from the P511.95 million the previous year.

Fueling the growth was a 27 percent increase in revenue to P52 billion last year from P41 billion in 2013. Passenger revenue comprised 77 percent of total revenue and increased by 27 percent to P40.19 billion from P31.66 billion over the same period. Cargo revenue also grew by 20.6 percent and comprised 6 percent of the top line.

The operator of Cebu Pacific ascribed the higher revenue to a 17.5 percent growth in passenger volume to 16.9 million last year from 14.4 million in 2013.

The budget carrier fielded 6.9 percent more flights after it acquired wide-body Airbus A330 to bring its fleet to 52 by yearend.

Alongside the higher number of flights, operating expenses also climbed 23.9 percent to P47.843 billion last year from the P38.6 billion in 2013. More than half of that pertained to flying operational expenses, which also increased by a fifth.

Lower jet fuel prices however partly made up for the increase in fuel expenses brought about by the higher number of flights mounted. Jet fuel cost $112.48 a barrel last year, down from the $122.97 average in 2013.

Jet fuel comprised half of operating expenses and rose 19 percent year-on-year.

Cebu Pacific shares were down 2 percent at P85.25 each at the close of trading today.

- Interaksyon

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Residential sales boost Filinvest Land's 2014 net income

Filinvest Land Inc’s (FLI) earnings last year grew in the mid-teens on the strength of residential sales.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Gotianun-led FLI said it earned P4.60 billion in 2014, a 16 percent increase from the P3.98 billion the prvious year.

Revenue rose by more than a fifth to P16.90 billion, of which P13.20 billion came from residential sales, which increased by 26 percent from the P10.48 billion in 2013.

Sales came from its Futura Homes affordable housing projects, medium-rise buildings that carry the “Oasis” and “Spatial” brands, and its Studio Series high-rise buildings. FLI launched P12.5 billion worth of residential projects last year.

Rental revenue from its office segment increased by 11 percent to P2.26 billion from the previous year’s P2.03 billion, with the growth coming from new buildings such as the “Filinvest One” and “Plaz@ E”, both at the Northgate Cyberzone in Filinvest City Alabang, Muntinlupa.

To date, FLI has 14 office buildings, with three more in the pipeline, completion of which would increase the company’s portfolio to 274,971 square meters.

For this year, the company aims to launch P16 billion worth of projects, on track to hitting its plan of having a recurring income portfolio of 970,000 square meters by 2019.

“We are targeting to increase our gross leasable area to three times our current office and retail space inventory within the next five years. For 2015, we are adding around 67,506 square meters of office space and 85,034 square meters of retail space to our portfolio,” said FLI chief executive Josephine Gotianun-Yap.

“The outstanding performance of FLI in 2014 was brought about by the company’s ability to address the needs of homebuyers as reflected in the consistent growth of residential sales and its ability to execute its plans to increase office as well as retail spaces in key locations nationwide,” she added.

- Interaksyon

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Smart bundles prepaid offers with free internet

Smart Communications Inc. is rewarding its prepaid subscribers who avail of call and text offers with free internet to boost the use of mobile data.

Up to 30MB of free data per day will be allotted for prepaid subscribers as part of call and text bundles.

“With the successful run of our Smart Free Internet offer, many of our subscribers were able to experience real-life benefits of staying connected to mobile Internet – from getting in touch with their loved ones, accessing news and information, to enjoying the wealth of entertaining content available online,” said Smart executive vice president and head of the wireless consumer business Charles Lim.

Lim said the new offer comes following the success of the telecommunication firm’s Free Internet promo introduced in September.

The free promo has been extended four times, with the latest cut-off date set on March 15. Smart offers a call, text and surf promo for its prepaid customers under All Text 20 Plus, which provides 45MB of surfing, along with unlimited text to all networks, 20 minutes of calls to Smart, Sun and TNT, all valid for one day.

The network has also enhanced its Unli Call and Text 25 promos with 45MB of surfing, along with unlimited calls to Smart and TNT, unlimited text to Smart, Sun and TNT, and 50 texts to other networks, all valid for one day.

Unli Call and Text 50, on the other hand, now comes with 140MB of surfing along with unlimited calls to Smart, TNT and Sun, unlimited text to all networks, valid for three days.

Other promos will also get additional 30MB.

“This new offer will enable us to further pursue our Internet for All campaign and encourage more people to stay connected, empowered, and enriched by Smart’s fast, fun and worry-free mobile Internet, which is at the core of our Internet for All campaign this year,” Lim said.

Mobile data revenues of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company reached P8.1 billion in 2014, P3.1 billion higher than the P5 billion posted in 2013.

- ABS-CBN News

Friday, March 6, 2015

Emperador eyes growth of more than a third after 2014 profit climbs on acquisitions

The country’s biggest liquor company grew its earnings in the low single digit last year.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Emperador Inc said its profit rose 5 percent to P6.1 billion last year from P5.8 billion in 2013.

This as revenues climbed 7 percent to P32 billion from P29.8 billion over the same period after the company spent P35 billion last year on acquisitions around the world.

“We have successfully transformed Emperador into a global company after our acquisition of Whyte and Mackay in the United Kingdom and various vineyard and brandy production facilities in Spain,” Emperador chairman Andrew Tan said.

“We see 2015 as the beginning of the rapid expansion of our businesses, both in the domestic and global markets. This year, we expect our revenues to grow by 35 percent,” he added.

Citing Euromonitor International, Emperador said the global brandy market could grow from 2013 to 2018, with volume reaching 195 million cases by the end of that period.

“Out of 100 bottles of brandy sold in the world today, 21 bottles are Emperador. We are set to launch Emperador in several countries in Europe and Africa, and we will be very active in Duty Free travel retail shops globally," said Emperador International managing director Jorge Domecq.

"Depending on the price points required by our clients, we can supply Emperador products from either the Philippines or Spain. With our aggressive pace, we expect our current share in the world brandy market to grow even further," he said.

Emperador chief finance officer Dina Inting said the company closed 2014 with a net cash position of P4.85 billion.

“In spite of spending close to P35 billion overseas last year, we will be debt-free in a few months because we intend to pre-pay our loan using the huge cash pile that is now sitting in our balance sheet. This gives us a lot of room for more acquisitions and expansion activities when opportunities arise in the domestic and global markets," she said.

Emperador president Winston Co said the company will launch 8 major products in the Philippines this year.

“This 2015 will be the busiest and most exciting year for the company," he said.

- Interaksyon

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Meralco buys into company that runs Pampanga electric coop



Meralco has taken over the company that won the contract to manage an electric cooperative in Pampanga province.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Manila Electric Company said it signed yesterday a shareholders agreement with Comstech Integration Alliance Inc.

Under the deal, Meralco will subscribe to 300 million shares that Comstech will issue at P100 a share. The deal cost Meralco P300 million and gives it a 60 percent stake in Comstech.

Prior to its investment, Meralco served as technical advisor to Comstech, which last year bagged the investment management contract for the operation and management of the Pampanga II Electric Cooperative (PELCO II).

PELCO II distributes electricity in one city and six towns of Pampanga.

- Interaksyon