8 Philippine companies make it to Forbes' list of top global firms

The listed holding company of the country's richest man is the top-ranking Philippine firm in Forbes' list of the world's biggest public corporations.

SM Investments Corporation, which earns its keep from banking, property and retail, landed in the top 1,000 at 911th place among the world's top 2,000 publicly-listed firms. Joining SM were two Ayala-owned firms (BPI and Ayala Corporation), two companies chaired by businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan (PLDT and Meralco), George Ty-owned Metrobank, John Gokongwei's JG Summit and Top Frontier Investment Holdings Inc, which is owned by San Miguel Corporation.

Here are the screen grabs of Forbes' profiles on the eight companies:









- Interaksyon

Lower trading gains pull down Metrobank's nine-month profit

Nine-month profit at the country's second largest lender fell by a third from a year ago.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, George Ty-owned Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co reported earnings of P15.534 billion in the January to September period, down 31 percent from the P22.713 billion in the same nine months of last year.

For the third quarter alone, net income however rose 73 percent to P4.728 billion this year from P2.725 billion last year.

Lifting third-quarter results was net interest income of P11.656 billion, a 12 percent increase from last year's P10.322 billion. Net interest income largely emanates from the bank's gains from its lending business less the cost of money lent out.

For the first nine months, net interest income rose by 23 percent to P34.015 billion this year from P27.595 billion in 2013.

The bank's loans and receivables portfolio increased by 14 percent to P697.3 billion at end-September this year from P611 billion at end-December last year. The increase was funded by a 9 percent uptick in low-cost deposits to P1.106 trillion from P1.016 trillion over the same period.

Metrobank said loan demand was strong among its commercial clients, including the middle market and SMEs. Despite the increase in lending, the bank's consolidated non-performing loan ratio of 1.12 percent at end-September was below the 1.39 percent last year.

“The robust core income growth reflects positively on our strategy. Our thrust is to maximize returns from traditional revenue sources while prudently managing balance sheet growth," said Metrobank president Fabian Dee.

Non-interest income, which includes gains from trading and fee-based income, climbed by nearly a third to P5.420 billion in the third quarter of this year from P4.128 billion in the same three months of last year.

Year-to-date, non-interest income rof P19.030 billion was still behind P32.722 billion a year ago when banks enjoyed strong trading gains.

“We remain optimistic about the prospects of the domestic economy. We are continuously building our capabilities, and we will accelerate our expansion into new growth areas, increase sales coverage and strengthen client relationships to ensure sustainable profitability and capital efficiency," Dee said.

Metrobank opened 31 local branches this year to bring the total to 887, still the largest in the industry.

- Interaksyon

FMIC to launch P3B fixed-income ETF this year

 

The investment banking arm of the Metrobank group is launching its second exchange traded fund (ETF) later this year.

First Metro Investment Corp (FMIC) president Roberto Juanchito Dispo last week told reporters that it will roll out a fixed-income ETF with an initial capitalization of P3 billion.

"We're very keen on launching an ETF that will track the bond index in the country. The fixed-income market in the Philippines is much deeper than the equity markets. We're laying the groundwork. Hopefully, before end of the year, we will be able to do it," Dispo said.

In introducing its new ETF, Dispo noted the robust Philippine fixed-income market especially with credit rating agencies raising the country’s sovereign debt score to investment grade.

"The recent credit upgrade put us on the radar screen of regional and global investors so the opportunity is very ripe to for us to launch an ETF tracking the bond index. That will allow opportunities for investors to buy directly corporate and government securities issuances simply by investing in that ETF fund," Dispo said.

FMIC was the company behind the country's first ETF, the First Metro ETF, which reflects the performance of the PSE index (PSEi), a basket of 30 publicly traded shares regarded as the benchmark of the market's overall performance.

Considered as the world's fastest growing asset class, an ETF is similar to a mutual fund that tracks an index but is traded on a stock exchange.

To promote awareness on bond trading, FMIC is launching a bond exchange challenge that will be open to all universities in the country.

The competition will be similar to the Stock Exchange Challenge, a partnership with the Philippine Stock Exchange that has attracted about 120 universities. The competition offered a prize money of P150,000 for the winning team.

"We hire the winners. These are the crème de la crème," Dispo said.

- Interaksyon

PS Bank ends Tier 2 note offer early on high demand

The thrift lending arm of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co said it has ended the offer period for its Tier 2 notes two days early on the back of "overwhelming" demand from investors.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Philippine Savings Bank said it has decided to advance the end of the offer period to May 14, 2014 from the original May 16, 2014.

Launched on May 9, the Basel III-complliant unsecured subordinated notes were priced at 5.5 percent per annum, which would be issued on May 23. The notes were issued a rating of PRS Aaa by Philratings.

Proceeds of the IOU sale would be used to strengthen PS Bank's capital base and allow it to expand its operations, the lender told the bourse.

ING Bank served as arranger and selling agent for this transaction while Multinational Investment Bancorporation acted as selling agent and market maker. PSBank and First Metro Investment Corp were the limited selling agents, Philppine Depository and Trust Corp served as registrar and paying agent while Development Bank of the Philippines was the trustee.

PSBank has kept its non-performing loan (NPL) ratio low at 0.24 percent while its NPL coverage ratio is in excess of 100 percent. It is also more than adequately capitalized, with a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 16.3 percent as of end-March 2014, well above the regulatory minimum of 10 percent.

- Interaksyon