PHINMA FY24 profit: P937-M (down 37%)

PHINMA Corp. [PHN 18.08 unch] [link] guided the market that its FY24 profitability would be significantly lower as compared to the previous period, due to what it called “challenging market conditions.” PHN said that its FY24 consolidated revenues were up 12% to P23.76 billion. From a business unit perspective, PHN said that its education unit, PHINMA Education Holdings, saw its revenues increase 17% and its international enrollment rise substantially. Its construction unit, PHINMA Construction Materials Group, booked P14.3 billion in revenues and P80 million in net income. PHINMA Properties suffered a net loss of P98 million on P2.34 billion in sales due to “lower sales volumes and increasing interest costs.”

MB bottom-line: The comparable performance would have been even worse, except that PHN was forced to restate its FY23 net income (which it originally reported as P1.62 billion) due to what it called “the inconsistent application of certain accounting policies.” The restated amount (P1.5 billion) was significantly lower, and the COO of the erring subsidiary was replaced. Altogether, this is a rather disappointing result for a stock that some analysts pumped as a “very attractive business” blind item back in June of last year. Back then, the stock price was in the P21.00 to P22.00 range. Today, the stock seems locked in a P18.00 to P19.00 range, and while that might just be PHN’s inability to outperform the broader market, PHN’s 23% drop over that time span is notably worse. I bet there are still many who look at this as a book value diamond in the rough, but bagholders can probably make the same argument for about half of the companies on the exchange. Oh well, maybe next year?

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