Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., the holding company of the Aboitiz Group, said Thursday consolidated net income rose 3 percent in the first quarter to P4.8 billion from P4.7 billion a year ago, on lower one-off losses representing net unrealized foreign exchange losses.
“Our diversified portfolio gives us the resilience to sail through varying business cycles. The underlying strength of our core operations and a vibrant economy keep us optimistic on our long-term fundamentals,” AEV president and chief executive Erramon Aboitiz said.
Power accounted for 64 percent of total income contributions, followed by banking and financial services with 30 percent.
Aboitiz Power Corp., the power arm of AEV, saw its net income decline 9 percent in the three-month period to P4 billion from P4.4 billion a year ealier.
The company recognized non-recurring foreign exchange losses on the revaluation of dollar denominated liabilities amounting to P1.2 billion, versus a non-recurring loss of P577 million in the first quarter last year resulting from the movements in the peso-dollar exchange rates.
Aboitiz Power’s core net income in the first quarter amounted to P5.2 billion, up 4 percent from a year ago, without the one-off adjustments.
“Despite the one-off adjustments we had to incur in the quarter, we continue to see modest growth of the group in both our generation and distribution businesses,” Aboitiz Power president and chief operating officer Antonio Moraza said.
Moraza said the company continued to see improvement in plant reliability and availability which resulted in significant financial contributions.
“Our DU [distribution utility] business also continues to grow, thanks to growing regional economies,” Moraza said.
AEV’s banking unit Union Bank of the Philippines increased its first-quarter income contribution by 32 percent from P1.1 billion to P1.4 billion, on higher revenues.
The food business under Pilmico Foods Corp. and its subsidiaries reported a net income of P264 million in the first quarter, or 10 percent lower than P292 million a year earlier.
AEV’s land business Aboitiz Land Inc. and other subsidiaries reported a net income of P59 million in January to March, down 18 percent year-on-year on increased borrowing expenses for the funding of new developments.
Republic Cement’s income contribution to AEV decreased 140 percent to a net loss from a P202 million net income in the first quarter last year, because of higher energy input costs.