Ayala Corp. said Wednesday core net income, which excludes one-off items, increased 48 percent to P41 billion in 2023, on the back of the strong performance of its banking and real estate units.
Ayala said in a disclosure to the stock exchange that accounting for one-offs, net income grew 39 percent to P38.1 billion.
“We succeeded in getting aggregate core earnings to exceed the pre-pandemic high. Now we focus on getting better operating and financial results from each of our businesses, and on rationalizing the portfolio where it makes sense to do so.”, Ayala president and chief executive Cezar Consing said.
Banking subsidiary Bank of the Philippine Islands delivered its highest full year net income of P51.7 billion in 2023, up 31 percent, driven by higher revenues, and lower provisions.
The bank’s net income would be up 44 percent if excluding the impact of the one-off gain from the property sale in 2022.
Total revenues grew 17 percent to P138.3 billion due to improved net interest and non-interest income.
Total loans increased 10 percent to P1.9 trillion as all segments exhibited strong growth, with consumer loans exhibiting the fastest growth at 21 percent.
Total deposits increased nine percent to P2.3 trillion as the 41 percent jump in time deposits more than offset the one percent decrease in CASA.
Meanwhile, Ayala Land’s net income grew 32 percent to P24.5 billion as resilient property demand and heightened consumer activity fueled revenue expansion.
Property development revenues increased 14 percent to P92.3 billion mainly on steady residential and office for sale bookings and higher completions that cushioned lower contributions from commercial and industrial lot sales.
Reservation sales were up nine percent to P113.9 billion as demand for its residential products remained resilient despite the elevated interest rate environment.
AREIT’s, Ayala Land’s REIT vehicle, also saw its net income increased 43 percent to P4.9 billion, driven by contributions from new asset infusions.
ACEN Corp.’s net income decreased to P7.4 billion from P13.1 billion due to the remeasurement gain from the acquisition of the Australia platform in 2022.
This was partly offset by the value realization and remeasurement gains from the sale of a small stake in the Salak and Darajat plant in Indonesia in 2023.
AC Energy & Infrastructure (ACEIC), the parent company of ACEN, saw its core earnings jump 71 percent to P9.5 billion from improved operating earnings from ACEN and higher contributions from GN Power Dinginin.
On the other hand, Ayala’s telco arm Globe’s net income dropped 29 percent to P24.6 billion mainly due to the one-time gain from the partial sale of its data center business in 2022. Core net income was flat at P18.9 billion.
Gross service revenues and EBITDA grew three percent to P162 billion and P81 billion, respectively, both all-time highs, driven by sustained growth in mobile data, corporate data, and non-telco services.
Mobile data revenues were up nine percent to P90.9 billion due to higher data traffic while corporate data revenues increased seven percent to P18.3 billion mainly from increased ICT solutions and services.
Digital service revenues grew 18 percent to P4.9 billion, led by contributions from Yondu and Asticom.
Home broadband revenues declined seven percent to P27.1 billion as the drop in fixed wireless outweighed the 14 percent growth in postpaid fiber revenues.
Health subsidiary AC Health continues to progress in scaling its healthcare ecosystem.
Acquisitions have bolstered growth however net income remains slightly negative due to one-offs and higher manpower and marketing expenses.
AC Health acquired a significant minority stake in St. Joseph Drug which enables the conpany to strengthen its pharmacy footprint and reach more Filipinos throughout the country.
It also entered into an agreement with the Far Eastern University-Dr. Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation to manage the university’s 300-bed hospital in Quezon City.
AC Industrials, losses excluding one-offs narrowed to P1.2 billion from P1.7 billion on the back of better results from IMI’s core operations and AC Motor’s 4-wheel business.