Conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc. of the Gokongwei Group saw its net income surged 30 times in 2023 to P20.2 billion from P650 million in 2022.
It said the robust growth came on the back of significant turnaround in the company’s airline, along with expanding margins in property and food businesses and tapering losses from petrochemical unit, JG Summit said in a stock exchange filing Tuesday.
Core net income, which excludes one off items, tripled to P19.6-billion in 2023 from P6.2 billion in 2022.
Consolidated revenues jumped 14 percent to P343.8 billion also on higher sales from airline business, coupled with strong revenues from property, food and petrochemical businesses.
JG Summit president and chief executive Lance Gokongwei said the group’s airline and property businesses benefited from the full lifting of mobility restrictions, while the operation of its food business was affected by the tough inflationary environment.
Its petrochemical unit also continued to suffer from weak demand.
“As we look forward, easing inflation and the potential rate cuts would bode well for consumer demand and lower input prices,” Gokongwei said.
“We hope to recover lost volume and market shares in our food business, sustain portfolio expansion in our real estate arm, increase capacity and short-haul recovery for our airline, and crystallize the financial gains from our petrochemical transformation program. These would allow us to bring our core profits closer to its pre-pandemic record levels within the next 12 months,” he said.
JG Summit’s food manufacturing unit Universal Robina Corp. posted net income of P12.2 billion in 2023, down 13 percent from 2022 which benefitted from land sale gain.
Property subsidiary Robinsons Land Corp. booked 24-percent increase in net income to P12.1 billion as revenues reached P39 billion.
Air transportation unit Cebu Air Inc. earned P7.9 billion, a sharp turnaround from the P14-billion loss in 2022 as revenues rose 60 percent to P90.6 billion.
JG Summit Olefins Corp. narrowed its net loss to P12.9 billion as the industry remained strained during the prolonged petrochemical cycle trough.
The group’s share in Manila Electric Co.’s 2023 earnings jumped 26 percent to P9.8 billion, while equity income from Singapore Land Group fell to P2.5 billion.
JG Summit also saw lower dividends from PLDT Inc. totaling to P2.6 billion, as the telecommunications company halved its special dividends from tower sales to P14 per share.