Posted on
December 04, 2012 09:53:21 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
HOLDING FIRM
Alliance Global Group, Inc. will increase its capital budget next year to over
P40 billion to bankroll spending for its principal business units, the firm’s
top official said recently.
“It will be
more than P40 billion for the whole Alliance Global, higher than this year,”
Andrew L. Tan, Alliance Global chairman and chief executive officer, told
reporters at the sidelines of the Philippine Stock Exchange 20th Thanksgiving
Anniversary and 1st Bell Awards ceremony at the Makati Shangri-La last Monday
night.
“I don’t have
the breakdown right now, but it will be divided among gaming, tourism, real
estate, and consumer products,” Mr. Tan added, referring to Alliance Global’s
main operating units: Travellers International Hotel Group, Inc., Global-Estate
Resorts, Inc., Megaworld Corp., as well as Emperador Distillers, Inc. and
Golden Arches Development Corp.
Bulk of next
year’s budget will be financed by internal funds as the company still holds at
present a significant amount of cash at its disposal, he said.
“Most of this
will be internally generated funds. We still have about P65 billion in cash at
the moment which we have not yet spent. We can deploy that if needed,” Mr. Tan
explained.
Last March,
Alliance Global; bared capital expenditure (capex) for 2012 amounting to
approximately P35 billion, bulk of which was allotted for its real estate and
tourism operations.
‘VERY GOOD
GROWTH’
The company
expects to replicate next year the robust profit growth it hopes to achieve
this year.
“We are
seeing very good growth for our business next year. I won’t be able to tell you
a percentage of growth, but I think we will be better than this year. I think
we will have a double-digit growth next year in net income,” Mr. Tan said
without elaborating.
In a separate
development, Mr. Tan declined to provide details on the residential joint
venture deal recently forged among Empire East Land Holdings, Inc. -- a listed
subsidiary of Megaworld -- Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment, Inc. and
Eagle 1 Landholdings, Inc., two firms owned by controversial gaming tycoon
Kazuo Okada.
“It is Empire
East that is talking with them. I cannot comment, but I think it’s still in
progress,” he said when asked for updates on the talks between Empire East and
the Okada group.
Empire East
signed last July a partnership agreement with Tiger Resorts and Eagle 1 for the
development of a P45-billion, 25-tower luxury residential resort project at the
state-run Bagong Nayong Pilipino Entertainment City near Manila Bay; Tiger
Resorts is one of the four gaming groups granted operating licenses by the
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. in Entertainment City.
Alliance
Global was incorporated in 1993 and listed on PSE in 1999 with an initial
business investment in glass-container manufacturing in Canlubang, Laguna.
The company
grew its net income by 9.88% to P13.46 billion as of September from P12.25
billion in the same nine months last year, driven by the robust growth of Megaworld,
Travellers International, and Emperador Distillers.
In the same
comparative nine-month periods, revenues -- mostly from the sale of goods and
gaming revenues -- gained 69.69% to P78.09 billion from P46.02 billion, year on
year, while costs and expense rose by a faster 76.09% to P61.12 billion from
P34.71 billion in 2011.
For this
year, Alliance Global expects to boost its net income by around 20% from the
P8.5 billion booked last year, Kingson U. Sian, Alliance Global president and
chief operating officer, said last September.
Shares of
Alliance Global gained 40 centavos or 2.52% to P16.30 apiece at the closing of
trades yesterday from their P15.90 finish last Monday, while those of Empire
East were traded unchanged at P1.03 apiece. -- Franz Jonathan G. de la Fuente
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