Phinma income drops 29% to P200 million in 9 months

MANILA, Philippines - Phinma Corp. (formerly Bacnotan Consolidated Industries Inc.) reported a net income of P200.8 million in the first nine months of the year, down 29.75 percent from the same period in 2009 on weaker performances of its oil exploration and business process outsourcing units.

In its disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Phinma said subsidiaries Trans-Asia Oil & Energy Development Corp. and One Animate Ltd. incurred losses of P26.7 million and P43.9 million, respectively. These were, however, partially offset by equity in net earnings of Union Galvasteel Corp. which doubled to P164.46 million from P88.8 million.

Meanwhile, Phinma Property Holdings Corp. contributed P48.2 million to total income while the education businesses chipped in P83.2 million.

Phinma said it expects recurring income attributable to equity holders of the parent for the year to be roughly equivalent to the 2009 level of P298 million.

It added its earnings will likely rebound in the second half of the year to end with the same figures as 2009.

At the same time, Phinma announced the merger of subsidiaries Union Galvasteel Corp. and Atlas Holdings Corp., with UGC as the surviving entity.

 Phinma, which used to control the cement manufacturing industry in the Philippines, sold its cement business to allow it to focus on faster growing industries. Its other subsidiaries include Pamantasan ng Araullo (Araullo University) Inc., Cagayan de Oro College Inc., University of Pangasinan, University of Iloilo, P&S Holdings Corp. and Asian Plaza Inc.