JG Summit Holdings Inc., the holding firm of the Gokongwei Group, said it is increasing its capital expenditures (capex) this year to P47.8 billion, most of which will be spent for its petrochemical business, property development and the loss-making budget airline Cebu Pacific.
This year’s capex is 28 percent higher than the previous year’s P37.3 billion, the company said.
Lance Y. Gokongwei, the company’s president and CEO, said some P20 billion will be earmarked for its property unit, almost double from last year’s actual spending of P11 billion; P13 billion for its petrochemical business, lower than last year’s P15 billion; P3 billion for Cebu Pacific, slightly lower than last year’s P4 billion; and the remaining P10 billion will be for its other businesses.
JG Summit’s income in the first quarter plunged 93 percent to just P122.18 million from the previous year’s P1.9 billion mainly due to the huge losses of Cebu Pacific.
Revenues fell to P67.63 billion from last year’s P67.88 billion.
“For the balance of this year, we will continue to focus on the execution of our recovery game plan. We believe that the group is well positioned to answer the shift in consumers’ needs and behaviors as well as the lasting shift to digital channels in a post Covid world. Our digital and agile transformation continues to accelerate with the ultimate goal of driving innovation faster, improving the customer experience and enabling us to gain productivity in operations,” Gokongwei said.
Food group Universal Robina Corp. reported P3 billion in net income in the first quarter, up by more than half from last year’s P1.98 billion. Revenues, however, were flat at P34.61 billion from last year’s P33.45 billion.
Cebu Air Inc. incurred a P7.29-billion net loss for the period, much deeper than last year’s net loss of P1.18 billion.
Total revenues posted an 83-percent decline to P2.7 billion from last year’s P15.19 billion.
“Our objective is to come out 25 percent to 30 percent more efficient versus where we were before the pandemic,” Gokongwei said during the company’s stockholders’ meeting.
The company only flew 7,236 flights and 550,000 passengers for the first quarter, down by 76 percent and 88 percent respectively, from last year.
JG Summit Petrochemicals Group posted an income of P48 million from last year’s loss, the company said.
Revenues tripled to P9 billion on the back of higher volumes, with strong demand from both local and export markets. Utilization rates continued to improve coming from the planned shutdowns last year. Its cracker utilization is currently over 100 percent and polymer utilization rate is now at 88 percent.
Robinsons Bank Corp.’s net income for the first quarter fell 33 percent year-on-year to P234 million mainly due to lower trading gains and additional provisions, reflecting the bank’s prudence in dealing with the potential negative impact of the pandemic on asset quality.
Revenues were flat at P2.3 billion.
Equity in net earnings of associates and joint ventures amounted to P1.4 billion, up 68 percent last year, mainly driven by its investments in the power sector. Manila Electric Co.’s first quarter numbers already incorporates its full ownership of Global Business Power Corp. Dividend income also increased as PLDT Inc. declared higher dividends this year given its strong performance in 2020, the company said.