Aboitiz Equity earnings drop for 2nd straight yr

MANILA, Philippines - A slowdown in the power and banking businesses pulled down the earnings of Cebu-based conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) for a second consecutive year.

AEV said its net income fell 13 percent to P18.4 billion last year from P21 billion in 2013.

AEV said it incurred a non-recurring gain of P436 million last year from the revaluation of Aboitiz Power’s consolidated dollar-denominated liabilities and placements, while a one-off gain of P634 million was recorded from the sale of a couple of the group’s investments.

Adjusting for these one-time gains and losses, AEV said its core net income declined 15 percent year-on-year to P17.9 billion.

Power remained the biggest business of the Aboitiz family, accounting for 71 percent, followed by banking with an 18 percent income contribution.

Food and land development, meanwhile, accounted for seven and four percent, respectively, of AEV’s total income last year.

AEV said earnings of its power unit, Aboitiz Power Corp., slipped 10 percent to P16.7 billion in 2014 from P18.6 billion the previous year.

Union Bank of the Philippines’ income contribution in 2014 likewise decreased 21 percent to P3.2 billion from P4.1 billion the previous year.

“This is due to the drop in total other income by 35 percent to P8.2 billion, brought by the exceptional level of trading gain earned the previous year,” AEV said.

Partially offsetting the decline in the company’s power and banking businesses were solid performances of its food and land development units.

Pilmico Foods Corp., AEV’s food unit, booked a four percent year-on-year earnings growth to P1.3 billion.

AEV attributed the increase to the “remarkable performance of farms whose net income soared by 101 percent to P377 million,” which in turn made up for the decline in the earnings from flour and feeds.

For its part, profits of Aboitiz Land Inc. surged 132 percent to P633 million from P273 million a year ago.

AEV said the real estate company achieved the P3-billion revenue mark last year due to growth across all its business units.

Moving forward, AEV intends to explore more growth opportunities in infrastructure investments which it has made the fifth leg of its business.

“Our strategic growth plans remain intact as we pursue to further strengthen and expand our businesses, keeping pace with the country’s economic growth,” said Erramon Aboitiz, AEV president and chief executive officer.

AEV said it is particularly eyeing more PPP opportunities and has formed the consortium Trident Infrastructure and Development Corp. along with Ayala Land, SM Prime Holdings and Megaworld  Corp. to bid for the P123.8-billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway and Dike Project.

The conglomerate, through its joint venture with JV Angeles Construction Corp., has also been awarded the contract to develop a 300 million liter per day bulk water supply project to support Davao City’s growing needs, the country’s largest private bulk water supply project to date.