By Neil
Jerome C. Morales (The Philippine Star) | Updated August 22, 2013 - 12:00am
MANILA,
Philippines - Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC), the investment holding firm of the Gotianun family, grew its
earnings nearly a fifth in the first semester driven by its banking and
property units.
In a
disclosure, FDC said its net income gained 19 percent to P2.15 billion in the
first half from P1.8 billion last year.
Total
revenues and other income jumped almost 30 percent to P17.99 billion from
P13.88 billion a year ago.
Specifically,
finance and banking services contributed P7.91 billion or 44 percent of
consolidated revenues and other income. This was followed by real estate
operations at P7.32 billion or 41 percent, sugar business at P2.27 billion or
13 percent, and hotel operations at P488 million or three percent.
In the first
half, revenues of real estate arm Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) climbed 16 percent
to P7.32 billion from P6.32 billion.
“The growth
resulted from the continued robust real estate sales and steady growth in mall
and rental revenues,” FLI said.
FLI said real
estate sales grew 17 percent to P5.48 billion from P4.69 billion on higher
sales of middle-income projects, low-cost house and lot units, and increase in
sales of lots in Filinvest Corporate City in Alabang, Muntinlupa. Mall and
rental revenues also rose 11 percent to P1.07 billion due to higher occupancy
rate.
FDC said its
subsidiary Filinvest Alabang Inc., the
developer of the 244-hectare Filinvest Corporate City, had a consolidated net
income of P467 million, more than
doubled the P193 million in the same
period last year.
For the
financial and banking business, FDC said East West Banking Corp.’s net income
picked up 40 percent to P1.27 billion from P910 million last year as net interest
income rose 41 percent to P3.89 billion from P2.75 billion.
“The higher
net interest income was a result of the
double-digit growth in lending coupled by declining cost of funds,” EastWest
said.
Trading and
securities gain surged 161 percent to P1.49 billion in the first half while the
lender also recorded a P69-million foreign exchange gain on the back of a
volatile financial market.
FDC’s sugar
operations, through Pacific Sugar Holdings, posted a consolidated net income of
P207 million from P124 million last year “due to the 73-percent increase in
revenues as sale of sugar reached P3.31 billion from P1.91 billion.”
In the first
semester, sugar cane milled hit 913,000 tons, up from 815,000 tons a year ago.
FDC’s hotel
operations, through Crimson Resort and Spa at Seascapes Resort Town in Cebu and
Crimson Hotel Filinvest City Manila, recorded total revenues of P508 million,
up 70 percent from last year due to higher occupancy.
Early this
year, the listed investment holding company secured $300 million in its first
foray into the international bond market to finance expansion projects.
FDC is also
joining the bidding for the P17.5-billion Public-Private Partnership project to
expand and operate the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.
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