Posted on May 17, 2012 09:56:17 PM [
BusinessWorld Online ]
ALLIANCE GLOBAL Group, Inc. yesterday
posted a 34% increase in its first quarter profit to P2.96 billion over
year-ago levels on the back of the robust performance of its property arm.
This, as the conglomerate said,
revenues climbed by 78% to P24.35 billion versus P13.67 billion, year on year.
“The growth of the company was led by
real estate arm Megaworld Corp., which contributed around 28% [to] total
revenues,” Alliance Global said in a disclosure to the local bourse.
Alliance Global’s latest financial
statement was not immediately made available.
Megaworld hiked its net income by 27%
to P1.58 billion in the first quarter from P1.24 billion in the same period
last year, with revenues expanding by 22% to P7.0 billion from P5.7 billion in
year-ago levels, a separate filing showed yesterday.
Strong sales from residential projects
in Megaworld-developed townships like Newport City, McKinley West, McKinley
Hill, and Eastwood City, coupled by higher leasing income from business process
outsourcing and retail projects, boosted the developer’s net earnings.
Megaworld’s costs and expenses,
meanwhile, rose by 21.25% to P5.42 billion from P4.47 billion last year.
Moving forward, Alliance Global said
that the future growth of its unlisted liquor arm, Emperador Distillers, Inc.,
is expected to lift the company’s bottom line by a wide margin, a ranking
official said.
“We expect that the strong growth of
our Emperador business will contribute significantly to our group’s earnings,”
said Kingson U. Sian, Alliance Global president and chief operating officer,
without mentioning specifics.
Emperador Distillers -- which recently
acquired a Laguna factory once owned by the local arm of Johnnie Walker
producer Diageo Plc. -- more than doubled its first quarter net income to P1.03
billion versus year-ago levels due to strong consumer demand for its products
in the period.
Alliance Global’s other businesses,
namely McDonald’s local franchise holder Golden Arches Development Corp., and
Travellers International Hotel Group, Inc., also reportedly did well in the
first quarter, Alliance Global said without elaborating.
Alliance Global was incorporated in
1993 and listed on the bourse in 1999 with an initial business investment in
glass-container manufacturing in Canlubang, Laguna.
At present, it is a holding company
engaged in food and beverage business, real estate, and quick-service
restaurants, with the aim of developing products and services for the country’s
growing middle-income sector.
For 2012, Alliance Global has
earmarked a P35 billion in capital expenditure to be sourced from
internally-generated funds, mostly to fund the company’s ongoing real estate
and tourism developments, earlier reports said.
Alliance Global shares rose by 4.34%
to P12.50 yesterday while shares of Megaworld gained 5.26% to P2.00 apiece . --
Franz Jonathan G. de la Fuente
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