MANILA – The Gokongwei-led JG Summit Holdings, Inc. (JGS) said its consolidated net income in the third quarter of 2020 has reached PHP844 million, a reversal of the PHP720 million loss recorded in the first six months of the year, as the economy progressively opens up amid the lingering threat of the pandemic.
In a statement on Friday, the conglomerate said improving contributions from petrochemicals and real estate, coupled with reduced losses from air transport, drove the recovery and brought its net income for the nine months to PHP124 million.
Higher margins from food and banking also boosted earnings.
Its consolidated revenues in the first nine months declined by 27 percent to PHP167.3 billion, reflecting the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) disruption.
“The business continues to face challenges brought about by Covid but I am encouraged by our results in the third quarter. With the easing of restrictions, economic activity has slowly returned and our different business units showed some quarter-on-quarter recovery but I also note that these results are far from ideal and still showed steep declines versus a year ago,” JG Summit president and chief executive officer Lance Gokongwei said.
Gokongwei said they remain cautiously optimistic about the business even as weaker consumer sentiment would continue to affect demand for products and services in the near term.
“We will however focus on execution to build on and continue the momentum that has started in (the) third quarter. The prospects of a vaccine likewise give us hope that this will unlock further acceleration and recovery towards the latter part of 2021,” he added.
The Universal Robina Corp. (URC) reported a net income of PHP7.5 billion in the first nine months of 2020, a 7-percent year-on-year improvement.
The URC’s total topline for the January to September period was flat against the same period last year, which amounted to PHP99.8 billion, driven by the slower recovery of consumer sentiments in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, offsetting the growth in agro-industrial and commodities.
From exhibiting the effects brought upon by the pandemic in the second quarter, Robinsons Land Corp. reported a strong recovery in net income to PHP717 million in the third quarter.
This was mainly driven by the improved performance of its malls, hotels, and residential businesses and sustained expansion from office and warehouse leasing businesses.
Cebu Air (CEB) booked an upward trend on the number of flights and passenger volumes, which more than doubled and tripled, respectively, in the third quarter against the previous quarter’s record lows, as the pandemic situation in the country has begun to show signs of improvement.
CEB’s third-quarter net loss narrowed to PHP5.5 billion from the previous quarter driven by cost savings on operations and fuel consumption on top of the buildup in passenger volumes.
It recorded a net loss of PHP14.7 billion from January to September.
Improving plant utilization rates, rebound in market demand, as well as lower naphtha prices led JG Petrochemicals Group to report positive earnings in the third quarter, a significant improvement from the reported losses in the first two quarters.
Profitability turned positive during the period with a net income of PHP772 million on the back of lower naphtha cost used in production.
Robinsons Bank Corp. recorded a net income of PHP786 million, a 68-percent growth against last year, driven by the year-on-year topline growth, as well as the 52-basis point improvement in net interest margins. (PR)
