MANILA – Diversified conglomerate DMCI Holdings Inc. has maintained its positive outlook for 2024 due to cooling inflation and stabilizing interest rates.
“Overall, we expect the DMCI group to deliver another resilient performance this year,” DMCI Holdings chairman and president Isidro Consunji said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Wednesday.
Consunji said interest rates are expected to play a favorable role for the DMCI group this year.
He believes that interest rates, which seem to have reached their peak, are likely to stabilize or decrease in the latter part of the year, potentially easing borrowing costs and encouraging economic activities.
Consunji said the government's handling of infrastructure projects also appears to be a positive factor.
“Improved scheduling and payment processes for these projects are expected to hasten construction activities, a development that could have ripple effects across various sectors of the economy,” he added.
In the real estate sector, particularly the mid-segment, Consunji cited signs of recovery.
“One of our projects, Solmera Coast, is doing extremely well. In less than five months, we have sold out 74 percent of our launched units,” he said.
Consunji said they maintain a cautious stance given China’s economic slowdown and modest growth in the domestic energy market.
“Slowing sales and manufacturing in China could keep a lid on commodity prices. With less demand and activity, we expect prices to be somewhat lower than last year," he said.
Consunji described 2023 as a fairly good year despite the global market uncertainties, volatile prices and high interest rates that characterized the year.
“We ended 2023 with all-time high coal shipments and off-grid energy sales. Our sole operating nickel mine also posted record sales during the year,” he said.
From January to December, Zambales Diversified Metals Corporation shipped 1.68 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore, a 16-percent upturn from 1.45 million WMT in 2022. (PR)
