Posted on
January 30, 2013 10:36:46 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
GT Capital
Holdings, Inc. plans to spend as much as P40 billion this year -- a record
figure and more than double the amount it actually spent in 2012 -- mostly for
its property and power units as it aims to achieve double-digit sales growth,
the company’s top official told reporters yesterday.
“Our capex (capital expenditures) is P35-40
billion, mostly for property and power. We have expansion plans for power, and
we also have lots of property projects,” Carmelo Maria L. Bautista, GT Capital
president, said on the sidelines of the Philippine Investment Summit 2013 at
the Makati Shangri-La hotel when asked for the company’s spending plans for
2013.
“This is
record spending, higher than last year which was P15 billion,” Mr. Bautista
added.
He declined
to elaborate on the holding firm’s specific plans for power and property, held
under unlisted units Global Business Power Corp. and Federal Land, Inc.,
respectively.
Federal Land
had said earlier this month that it was also ramping up spending this year,
allotting P12 billion -- or more than a third over 2011 expenditures -- for the
construction of condominiums, as well as other retail and office developments.
An analyst
said GT Capital’s aggressive bid to boost spending this year was to be expected
amid a booming local economy.
The
government is widely expected to report full-year 2012 economic growth today
that will top the higher end of its 5%-6% target. Gross domestic product grew
by about 6.5% in the nine months to September last year, already surpassing
that goal.
“I think
sitting on your cash and not expanding in the midst of a growing economy would
be a disservice to your shareholders. I think it’s a right move. The economy is
doing well and I think it is expected to continue do so this year. If you want
return on your capital, you have to invest,” Jose A. Vistan, Jr., research head
at AB Capital Securities, Inc., said in a telephone interview yesterday when
asked to comment on GT Capital’s 2013 capex.
Asked on
sales growth this year, Mr. Bautista said: “It’s safe to say double-digit
growth.”
“Drivers will
be the country’s robust macroeconomic fundamentals. All our five sectors
(units) should be up,” he said without elaborating.
Comparative
figures were not immediately available, as GT Capital has yet to release its
full-year 2012 financial report.
GT Capital is
the holding firm for the businesses of the Ty family. It was the first firm to
conduct an initial public offering in 2012, raising P21.6 billion in fresh
funding.
Aside from
real estate and power, the company has investments in three other sectors,
namely: in banking (Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.), life insurance (AXA
Life Insurance Corp.), and automobiles (Toyota Motor Philippines Corp.)
GT Capital
more than doubled its net income to P6.86 billion as of September last year
from P2.64 billion in the same nine months in 2011, buoyed by gains from the
consolidation of its power business, a bigger share in the net income of its
units, and nonrecurring income from its property subsidiary.
In the same
comparative periods, revenues -- consisting mainly of fees, equity in net
income of associates, as well as finance and other income -- tripled to P16.70
billion from P5.37 billion, while costs and expenses grew more than threefold
to P9.71 billion from P2.66 billion.
Shares of GT
Capital added P1 or 0.15% to close at P680 apiece yesterday from P679 last
Tuesday. -- Franz Jonathan G. de la Fuente
________________________________________________________
