LT Group hikes profit to P6.25 B in Jan-Sept

MANILA, Philippines - LT Group Inc. grew its net income by 33 percent to P6.25 billion in the nine months to September on the  back of the positive performance of the different business segments.

Given its strong growth, the conglomerate is on track to surpass the P6.6 billion profit recorded for the whole of 2015.

The LT Group has interests in tobacco, spirits, banking and property development.

By segment, banking arm Philippine National Bank accounted for P2.54 billion or 41 percent of total earnings while the tobacco business contributed P1.79 billion or 29 percent.

 Asia Brewery Inc. which partnered with Dutch brewing company Heineken International B.V. early this year, added P894 million or 14 percent.

Tanduay Distillers Inc. accounted for P679 million or 11 percent followed by property developer Eton at P248 million or four percent.

 Meanwhile, equity in net earnings from Victorias Milling Co. Inc. amounted to P96 million or two percent of the total.

 PNB posted a net income of P5.91 billion during the nine-month period, up 12 percent as net interest income increased by 14 percent to P14.63 billion. This was on the back of a 16 percent growth in loans and receivables.

Income from the tobacco business, meanwhile, improved to P1.8 billion from P525 million largely due to the change in mix of Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp.’s sales, with premium Marlboro accounting for a higher share of total volume.

PMFTC is the merged entity between US tobacco company Philip Morris and Tan’s Fortune Tobacco Corp.

For Asia Brewery, earnings grew 29 percent to P895 million as cobra energy drink, Tanduay Ice alcopop and Vitamilk soymilk remained the market leaders while Absolute and Summit bottled water cornered the second largest market share in the industry.

Tanduay Distiller’s net income doubled to P679 million from P337 million, mainly due to the start of contribution of bioethanol sales this year.

On the other hand, liquor volume was relatively flat.  TDI’s market share based on Nielsen’s customer off-take on volume was at 25 percent as of the end of September.

TDI continues to have the largest share in Visayas at 63 percent and in Mindanao at 64 percent.

For real estate, Eton Properties reported a bottom line of P249 million for the first three quarters, 26 percent more than the P197 million generated in the same period a year ago.

Revenues increased by 17 percent to P2.2 billion due to the growth in leasing revenues on the back of higher lease rates at the fully-leased out BPO office buildings with a gross leasable area of about 124,000 square meters.

Eton broke ground on the fifth BPO office tower at Eton Centris in Quezon City in August. It will have a GLA of around 37,000 square meters and is expected to take two years to complete.