By Revin Mikhael D. Ochave, Reporter
JG SUMMIT Holdings, Inc. returned to profitability as it posted a third-quarter net income of P844.1 million for its equity holders, reversing the previous quarter’s losses but still way below last year’s earnings.
The Gokongwei-led firm said better contributions from its petrochemicals and real estate units allowed it to record improved quarterly results.
JG Summit President and Chief Executive Officer Lance Y. Gokongwei said he is “cautiously optimistic” despite projecting that weaker consumer sentiment will continue to be a factor for the company’s products and services in the near term.
His optimism comes after the holding firm managed to move from its first-half losses of P720.25 million when the second-quarter net loss reached P2.62 billion. But the improved third-quarter bottomline is still far from the P3.68-billion income in the same period last year.
Mr. Gokongwei said he was “encouraged” by the company’s results for the third quarter, despite the economic challenges brought by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
“With the easing of restrictions, economic activity has slowly returned and our different business units showed some quarter on quarter recovery but I also note that these results are far from ideal and still showed steep declines versus a year ago,” he said.
“The prospects of a vaccine likewise give us hope that this will unlock further acceleration and recovery towards the latter part of 2021,” he added.
For a nine-month period, JG Summit’s net income amounted to P123.85 million, down from P21.07 billion a year ago, while its consolidated revenues fell 27% year-on-year to P167.3 billion.
JG Summit’s petrochemicals unit, JG Petrochemicals Group, posted a third-quarter net income of P772 million due to lower naphtha prices that are used in production.
For a nine-month period, it recorded a net loss of P1.9 billion and revenues of P14.5 billion. The company’s food unit, Universal Robina Corp., registered a net income of P7.5 billion for the three quarters, a 7% increase from a year ago.
Meanwhile, Robinsons Land Corp. posted a net income of P717 million for the third quarter due to stronger showing from its malls, hotels, and residential businesses, coupled with the sustained expansion in its office and warehouse leasing units.
For a nine-month period, the property company recorded a 31% drop in its net income to P4.4 billion due to additional depreciation from newly opened properties and interest expenses on newly issued loans.
Cebu Pacific Air, Inc. trimmed its net loss for the third quarter to P5.5 billion due to savings on operations and fuel consumption.
For a nine-month period, the budget airline ended with a net loss of P14.7 billion, with revenues declining 70% to P19.3 billion.
“Passenger revenues were down 74% while ancillaries decreased by 69% due to lower passenger volumes. The limitations on frequency of flights and varying requirements and processes from local government units continue to be a challenge,” the disclosure said.
JG Summit’s banking unit, Robinsons Bank Corp., reported a net income of P786 million for a nine-month period due to a 14% increase in its revenues to P6.9 billion.
On Friday, shares in JG Summit were unchanged at P72 per piece.
