SMC bulking up revenues to $50 B in 5 years

MANILA, Philippines - San Miguel Corp. (SMC), the diversified conglomerate, hopes to bring its yearly consolidated revenues up to $50 billion in the next five years from an estimated $20 billion at present, its top official said.

“Today, I think the revenue of the group of companies is about $20 billion if we consolidate it. We hope in the next five years, we will hit at least $40- to $50-billion,” San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang told reporters yesterday on the occasion of the company’s 125th anniversary.

To achieve the aspired revenues in the next five years, Ang said the company would continue to strengthen its core business, and hopefully expand its energy and infrastructure businesses.

“We will continue to manage our existing businesses and hopefully to pursue more acquisitions related to the energy business and to build more infrastructure projects for our country, and to provide a good telecom network, a working telecom network,” Ang said.

On the planned energy acquisitions, Ang said this could be oil and gas fields that are not necessary within the Philippines.

“Our target is oil fields, oil and gas fields that are not necessary in the Philippines,” he said.

For the infrastructure projects, the SMC chief said the company aims to build toll roads that are more “user friendly.”

He noted existing roads experience congestion at the exit booths.

“About our infrastructure project. We will make sure all our tollways are user friendly,” Ang said.

To do this, he said SMC would look for ways of designing and redesigning tollways so that road users would not experience congestion at the exit booths.

For the planned telecommunication venture, Ang said the target is to provide a network that works.

He is unfazed there is already an existing duopoly in the telecommunications sector, noting consumers continue to look for better services.

“It’s not a problem (having a new player) because our cellphones don’t work now. Definitely, we are building a network that will really provide a good network that will work. For sure it will be a better network,” Ang said.

He said it would be both in the wired and wireless sector, with focus on mobile broadband.

“I’m sure if there is a company that can provide a better network, that would be good. It’s not impossible to have three players in one country,” Ang said.

For the planned telco venture, SMC is in talks with Telstra but Ang declined to divulge details of the negotiations with Telstra, Australia’s biggest phone company.

He said Telstra is such a big company that whatever equity stake it would pour for the venture would be insignificant for the company.

“Whatever contribution they will make is nothing to them because they are a very big company,” Ang noted.

Telstra, which is based in Melbourne, has confirmed the talks. It reportedly selected banks for expansion projects.