Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube
Home Blog Page 11251

Cebu Pacific wants bigger slice of Australian market as it launches direct flight to Melbourne

By Zsarlene B. Chua, Reporter
CEBU PACIFIC on Tuesday launched direct flights from Manila to Melbourne, four years after the budget carrier introduced its Sydney route.
“Today, we became the only low cost carrier to operate regular flights between Manila and Melbourne, our second destination in Australia,” Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific VP for marketing and distribution, during the inaugural ceremony held in Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 on Aug. 14.
The Manila to Melbourne route flies thrice weekly from NAIA Terminal 3.
“This will enable more Australian travelers — from adventure-seekers to leisure tourists to families on holiday — to discover the paradise that is the Philippines. Many of us know that the beaches, the biodiversity and the natural attractions in the Philippines can rival those of Phuket, Pattaya, Bali or Koh Samui,” said Ms. Iyog during her remarks.
This is Cebu Pacific’s second Australian route after it first launched Sydney flights in 2014.
“Sydney is doing well. We’re actually flying the most number of passengers between Philippines and Sydney route,” Ms. Iyog said of the five times weekly route.
The Australian Bureau Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Cities (BITRE), reported in April 2018 that Cebu Pacific is currently the market leader in Manila to Sydney non-stop passenger traffic in 2017 with 40% share against Philippine Airlines and Qantas which has 34% share each.
“If you look at our loads today and looking forward compared to how Sydney started, Melbourne is starting stronger than how Sydney started four years ago,” Ms. Iyog told reporters, noting the load factor of its inaugural flight to Melbourne stood at 88%.
“There’s also a lot of interest from Australians to come to the Philippines because we offer what Australians love: beaches, really cheap beer and a great outdoor experience. Manila is also a good jump off point to other destinations in Asia,” she added.
Amanda Gorely, Australian Ambassador to the Philippines told reporters there is “demand for other parts of Australia to have direct flights from the Philippines,” citing Adelaide, Perth and Darwin.
“We had officials from Darwin here earlier in the year looking at a possibility of having a direct flight,” Ms. Gorely said.

TDF yields rise to all-time highs

peso bills
YIELDS on the central bank’s term deposits climbed on Wednesday. — PHILSTAR/KRIS JOHN ROSALES

By Melissa Luz T. Lopez, Senior Reporter
YIELDS on term deposits soared to all-time highs this week as banks scrambled to park their idle funds under the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), taking advantage of higher accepted margins following a strong rate hike last week.
Demand for the short-term papers reached P147.79 billion yesterday, up from the P110.185 billion fetched a week ago to log well beyond the P100 billion on the auction block. The marked recovery in bids came after the central bank raised policy rates by 50 basis points (bp) during their Thursday meeting.
All three tenors under the term deposit facility (TDF) stood oversubscribed, marking a strong rebound for the two-week and one-month tenors which received tepid demand during last week’s auction which was the eve of the BSP’s rate-setting meeting.
The Monetary Board made its strongest tightening move in a decade last week amid signs that inflation could remain elevated until 2019. Key rates — the spread banks can ask for during TDF auctions — now range from 3.5-4.5%,
As a result, yields sought by banks climbed by more than 30 bps across three instruments.
Banks wanted to place P50.537 billion under a seven-day term, down from the P65.44 billion bids received the previous week but still well above the P40 billion placed on the auction block. Despite the overwhelming demand, lenders asked for an average of 4.1759% in returns, coming from a spread of 3.7-4.258% and nearly 40 bps above the 3.7797% fetched the previous week.
Tenders for the 14-day deposits nearly doubled to P62.531 billion this week, surpassing the P40 billion which the central bank wanted to sell. This also recovered from the pale P33.285 billion demand posted during the Aug. 8 offering.
Rates fetched averaged 4.2449% as banks sought for margins from a wide range of 3.525-4.36%. This also climbed by 32 bps from the 3.9234% posted the previous week.
Lenders also placed bigger bets on the 28-day tenor, with bids reaching P34.722 billion against a P20-billion offer. This also improved from the P11.46 billion placements made by banks a week ago. In turn, yields rose to 4.2844%, also 32 bps higher than the 3.962% fetched previously.
The TDF is currently the central bank’s main tool to capture excess money supply in the financial system. The BSP hosts the weekly auctions of short-term papers to bring market and interbank rates within its desired spread.

Sacre bleu! Blue wine makes a splash in southern France

SETE, FRANCE — A glass of blue, sir? It is a question that may dismay purist wine makers in France, where wine is a way of life rather than simply a drink, but in the southern town of Sete consumers cannot get enough.
In the Mediterranean resort’s restaurants and beach bars, holidaymakers and local residents have drunk their way through the first 2,000-bottle consignment of the turquoise-colored chardonnay.
Now Rene Le Bail, the entrepreneur marketing the Spanish-made wine, has put in an order for up to 35,000 more bottles.
“It reminds me of something, I’m not sure which fruit but it makes me think of, I don’t know, maybe sweets from my childhood,” said a diner who identified himself as Frederic.
“I love the color, it’s perfect for the summer. It brings happiness, joy, I really like it,” said Nora, a tourist from Singapore while drinking in a beachfront restaurant.
The wine is filtered through a pulp of red grape skins which contain a natural pigment, anthocyanin, and gives the wine its electric blue color.
Le Bail turned to a vineyard in Spain’s southern Almeria region to find a blue wine that he says boasts aromas of cherry, raspberry and passion fruit.
It is not the first blue wine to come out of Spain. In 2016, Spanish startup Gik developed a wine with a deep sapphire hue. But because of its “vin bleu” label, it ran afoul of strict French labeling rules and suffered a short shelf-life in stores.
The entrepreneur has sidestepped the regulations with some clever naming, labeling the €12 bottles: “Vindigo.”
“I think the bottles we’ve ordered will go in two months. Everybody wants it,” Le Bail told Reuters.
Le Bail says he has been inundated with orders from across France, Belgium and Germany on the wine’s Facebook page and says demand for the wine stretches as far as Russia, the Caribbean, and China.
“We’ve said no to all the big supermarkets. We want in France to sell the wine through small-scale wine merchants and grocers,” he said.
In a country where rosé wine was for decades seen as a poor cousin to red and white before becoming fashionable in recent years, not everyone shares Le Bail’s conviction that blue wine is here to last.
“It’s a bit heavy in its aromas,” said Philippe Delran, a bespectacled wine merchant in Sete who raised his eyebrows in thinly concealed displeasure on judging the wine’s bouquet. “It needs more work.” — Reuters

LBC acquires courier unit in Malaysia

By Denise A. Valdez
LBC Express Holdings, Inc. continues to consolidate its international affiliates, as it announced on Wednesday the acquisition of 92.5% of shares in Malaysia-based LBC Mabuhay.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange, the listed company said it bought 924,998 shares in LBC Mabuhay from Jamal Limited. LBC paid $461,782 for majority stake in the courier services company.
“The acquisition is expected to benefit the Company by contributing to the global revenue stream of the Company,” it said.
LBC earlier this year said it will consolidate its international affiliates, particularly those in United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Hong Kong, under the company.
In June, LBC acquired four remittance and cargo companies, which offer LBC services in Australia and Singapore. In March, LBC bought a 30% stake in Orient Freight International, Inc. for P218.88 million.
Meanwhile, LBC said its net income attributable to shareholders of the parent company nearly tripled to P619.314 million during the second quarter, from P212.25 million a year ago.
The service business generated P3.033 billion in revenues for the quarter ending June 30, up 24% “mostly from the growth in both retail and corporate logistics sales by 21% and 40%, respectively.”
LBC’s logistics business recorded a 22% rise in revenues to P2.673 billion, driven by a 33% growth in the volume it handled for the period.
“The increase in volume of services was mainly attributable to the horizontal growth of the Company, evidenced by the net addition of 60 branches in the Philippines. In addition, the branches in Middle East introduced their local courier services which gained a positive customer response and contributed to the increase in sales,” LBC said in a regulatory filing.
The growth in operating expenses was limited to 2.14% at P530 million, subdued by lower royalty and professional fees. But primary drivers of the increase were the 12% rise in salaries and wages and a P20-million additional spending for taxes and licenses.
LBC saw its six-month attributable net income rise 134.63% to P1.128 billion on the back of an 18% growth in gross profit, a 4% cut on operating expenses, a P439-million gain on derivative and an increase in foreign exchange gain.
Last month, the company said it plans to open 100 stores every year until 2020, having launched around 45 to 46 stores already during the January to June period.

Insurance industry posts premium growth in first half

THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY booked a double-digit increase in the first half as all sectors posted robust growth, the Insurance Commission (IC) said on Wednesday.
In a statement, the IC said the insurance industry’s premium income in the six months ended June grew 24.27% to P145.76 billion from the P117.29 billion posted in the same period last year.
“All sectors of the insurance industry — the life insurance sector, non-life insurance sector, and mutual benefit associations (MBA) — posted double-digit growth in terms of premium income at end-June this year,” Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa was quoted as saying in the statement.
Broken down, life insurers reported P116.14 billion in premium income last semester, 27.92% higher than the P90.79 billion recorded in the same period a year ago.
Mr. Funa attributed this growth to the “remarkable” increase in the sales of variable life products that posted a 35.91% growth to P88.45 billion from P65.08 billion last year.
Meanwhile, total premiums written by non-life insurance companies rose 10.07% to P24.44 billion in the January-June period from the P22.2 billion tallied in the comparable year-ago period.
The growth, according to the IC, was brought about by a 14.87% increase in premiums from car insurance products which comprised more than half of total net premiums written.
Income generated from contributions and premiums by MBAs reached P5.18 billion in the January to June period, rising 20.61% from P4.29 billion last year. This was on the back of a 27.03% or P529.3-million increase in the net members’ contribution of two associations, Mr. Funa said.
The industry likewise paid P50.74 billion worth of benefits at end-June, an increase of 15.21% from P44.04 billion in benefits paid in the same period in 2017.
The insurance industry was valued at P1.54 trillion in asset terms as of the first semester’s end, up 3.64% from the P1.48 trillion year-on-year.
Mr. Funa said the non-life insurance sector managed to grow its assets by 15% to P223.77 billion as of end-June from last year’s P194.55 billion despite the decline in the number of non-life insurers.
“The life insurance sector’s assets hit P1.23 trillion or 80% of the total industry’s 1.54 trillion assets, representing 1.32% increase from P1.21 trillion year-on-year,” he added.
The industry’s liabilities stood at P1.22 trillion, while its net worth stood at P313.09 billion.
“While the factors that may affect the outlook for the industry in the second half of this year are largely linked to the health of the country’s economy, our outlook is very positive taking into account the all-time record year in 2017 and double-digit growth in first quarter of this year,” Mr. Funa said, adding that while insurers see a continued upward trajectory in statistics, there is more to be done to grow the sector. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

Beyond its appearance in Sex and the City, this cupcake makes you smile


By Joseph L. Garcia, Reporter
THIS WAS supposed to be a piece telling you how Magnolia Bakery is something to line up for so you can take a photo of yourself holding the same cupcake that Carrie Bradshaw bought in Sex and The City, Season 3, Episode 5 (“No Ifs, Ands, Or Butts”). The show’s lead, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, up to now an icon of feminine fashion, ate a vanilla cupcake with a pink buttercream swirl and a small sugar daisy. This was going to join all the other pieces extolling the influence of Sex and The City on pop culture, lost in the swirl of the internet.
But in the end, the cupcake won over the HBO show.
When this writer stepped into the BGC branch of Magnolia Bakery — called M Bakery in the Philippines to avoid confusion with a much larger Magnolia — I was handed a chocolate and buttercream cupcake, and I can write words and words about how good it tasted, how one can almost picture the chocolate melting when it went into the batter, the taste of real buttercream, so rare these days — but really, all it takes to know how good something is if it gives you a smile. My smile stretched further with a taste of the blueberry jamboree, with a cream cheese topping and a dollop of fresh blueberry topping. I had a bite of the cranberry-chocolate cookie, as large as my hand, and my eyes lit up.
If you line up at M Bakery when it opens on Aug. 22, I can assure you, as a person whose palate has been beaten up by several cupcake flavors from other outlets, you will leave with a smile.
Magnolia Bakery opened in 1996, and because of its product placements on TV shows like Sex and The City and Saturday Night Live, has earned its place in pop culture, and even kicked off a cupcake craze. Its name continues to be dropped in movies such as The Devil Wears Prada, which came out in the 2006, well beyond the date of the Sex and The City episode where the cupcakes were introduced in 2000.
While the bakery was founded by Jennifer Appel and Allysa Torey, Ms. Appel broke off the partnership in 1999, and opened her own bakery. In 2006, Ms. Torey sold Magnolia Bakery to Steve Abrams, who still sits as CEO to this day. It was Mr. Abrams who kicked off the expansion plans of the bakery: Erick Larios, Director of Franchise Operations of Magnolia Bakery, counts nine locations in the US and 18 around the world, in locales as diverse as Dubai to Tokyo.
In the Philippines, the franchise is held by Phil Jacobe Ventures, Inc. Its managing partner is Stewart Lee Ong, whose other holdings include the LCG Group of Companies, which distributes cars and pharmaceutical goods. He told BusinessWorld that he’s been eating its goodies for about five years now, after first tasting the brand’s banana pudding in New York. Since then, whenever he travels to a locale that has a Magnolia Bakery in it, he makes sure to have a bite. The process of obtaining the franchise for the country took about three years, he said. In preparation for the bakery’s debut here, Mr. Larios said that Mr. Ong was trained for four weeks, the Philippine staff trained for six weeks, and the US people came to the Philippines for four to six weeks to train everyone again. The cupcake swirl, after all, takes about 40 hours for someone to learn, according to Mr. Larios. The long weeks spent in training is also accounted by the fact that everything is made in-house: no commissaries, no prepackaged mixes.
“Baking things on premise: I think that’s something that’s essential,” said Mr. Larios. “I’m so confident in saying that the majority of our competitors are not following the same best practices that we do.”
Take away the fluff, take away the product placements, take away the association with everything good that ever came from New York: is this cupcake good? Mr. Larios said, “Yes! And I’m going to tell you why it’s a ‘yes’ with an exclamation point. The placements didn’t happen because we seek them. We are that popular. We were that sought-after that we were placed.”
The world has changed since the company opened in the late 1990s. Diets came and went, and political and economic instability rocks the news every few weeks or so. But the cupcake, despite being declared dead, keeps coming back like a fairy you need to see from a story. Mr. Larios said, “I think it’s a combination of nostalgia, and we’re an indulgence. If anybody tells me they’re on a diet, the first place I send them to is not our place. When you have a cheat day, come and see us.”
“Everybody has different life events that they want to celebrate. We want to be the ones to help them celebrate that.”

Cityland to raise P1.4B via commercial papers

CITYLAND Development Corp. (CDC) looks to raise P1.4 billion through the issuance of commercial papers to finance its capital requirements.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Wednesday, the property developer said its board of directors has approved the filing of an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the issuance.
In a separate disclosure, its subsidiary City & Land Developers, Inc. said it will also be issuing P350 million worth of commercial papers. The company’s board of directors approved the filing of an application at the SEC for the offering.
Incorporated in 1978, CDC’s core business is to acquire and develop land for residential, office, commercial, institutional, and industrial uses. The company has medium to high-rise office buildings, commercial, and residential condominiums in Makati, Mandaluyong, Manila, and Pasig. This includes Pines Peak Towers, Grand Central Residences, and Makati Executive Towers, among others.
It also has residential subdivisions and farm lots located in Bulacan and Cavite.
The company’s market capitalization stood at P3.98 billion at the end of Wednesday’s trading.
Shares in CDC went down by 1.98% or two centavos to close at 99 centavos apiece at the stock exchange on Wednesday. — Arra B. Francia

Phinma Energy swings to net loss in April-June

PHINMA Energy Corp. on Wednesday reported a net loss attributable to equity holders of the parent firm of P91.57 million in the second quarter, reversing last year’s income of P221.87 million in the same quarter last year as revenues slipped while cost and expenses rose.
Revenues during the quarter stood at P4.42 billion, lower by 6.2% compared with the P4.71 billion recorded in the same three months last year. Cost and expenses went up 4.3% to P4.89 billion from P4.69 billion a year ago.
In the first half, Phinma Energy posted a net loss of P48.26 million, a reversal of last year’s P300.29 million net income attributable to the parent firm’s equity holders.
Revenues during the semester fell to P8.13 billion, lower by 2.3% compared with the P8.32 billion recorded in the same six months last year. Cost and expenses increased by 5.6% to P8.70 billion from P8.24 billion previously.
Including non-controlling interest, the company said consolidated net loss during the first six months was at P76.41 million from a net income of P298.17 million a year ago.
It attributed the reversal to the “continued low prices in the competitive energy supply market as well as higher costs resulting from excise taxes imposed by the TRAIN Law,” referring to Republic Act 10963 or Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion.
“In 2018 the company also recognized P80 million in actual and provisional costs on soon-to-expire oil and gas service contracts. Moving forward, the Company will continue initiatives to improve margins by expanding its wholesale customer portfolio and lowering its cost of power,” Phinma Energy said in a statement.
South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp., a 45%-owned affiliate, generated 817 gigawatt-hours (GWh), translating in a net income of P827 million in the first half and paying P500 million in dividends.
Another affiliate Maibarara Geothermal, Inc. started operating its second geothermal unit in March 2018, producing a total of 77 GWh of geothermal energy from its two units during the semester.
The company’s subsidiary Phinma Renewable Energy Corp. produced 53 GWh of clean energy from its 54-megawatt (MW) wind farm in San Lorenzo, Guimaras. It registered P115.8 million in net income in the first semester.
Phinma Energy said it continues to pursue renewable energy projects, including a 40-MW expansion of its wind farm in Guimaras as well as a 45-MW solar farm in Padre Garcia, Batangas.
“Negotiations with offtakers on bilateral contracts for these projects are on-going,” it said.
The company said it had joined forces with sister company Union Galvasteel Corp. to promote solar rooftop generation, with an installation completed in Phinma Cagayan de Oro College. Phinma University of Pangasinan will follow by end-August.
On Wednesday, shares in Phinma Energy were unchanged at P1.18 each. — Victor V. Saulon

Allianz PNB Life Insurance to craft more products for millennials

By Karl Angelo N. Vidal, Reporter
ALLIANZ PNB Life Insurance, Inc. is gearing up to attract more young Filipinos to get protected as it launched an insurance product designed for millennials.
In an event in Makati City on Wednesday, Allianz PNB Chief Finance Officer Efren C. Caringal said the insurer is keen on crafting products and services that are catered towards the needs of younger generations.
“We’re making sure we have exciting propositions for millennials so it is attuned to their needs,” Mr. Caringal told BusinessWorld yesterday.
“When we design our products, we really talk to them. We do focus group discussions. We make sure that we’re developing products that are suitable for their needs.”
To address the needs of the so-called “Filennials” or Filipino millennials, Allianz PNB launched AZpire Growth, a regular pay unit-linked insurance product that acts both as protection and an investment vehicle.
“What we’ve done in this variant of unit-linked [insurance] is we made the premium charges really low so that you can accumulate funds faster,” Mr. Caringal said.
Coverage can be as low as P30,000 a year as clients can choose to pay premiums annually, semi-annually, quarterly and monthly.
As premiums go higher, charges and fees will be reduced for clients to get more of their investment. Loyalty bonuses will be given at the end of 10 and 20 years.
Mr. Caringal said the insurance product was mainly designed for millennials as they are becoming increasingly inclined to save and invest for the future.
According to the 2018 Allianz Life Generations Ahead Study conducted online in May 2017 among American adults, 41% of the millennials who responded said they set aside money each month for saving, compared with 36% for Gen X-ers.
Some 58% of the respondent millennials also see saving for retirement as a basic necessity like food and housing.
“We’re positioning it for millennials because we’ve learned that they actually have the desire to save and invest,” Mr. Caringal said. “We’re giving them the platform to do it.”
Aside from this, Mr. Caringal added that Allianz PNB is making its customer experience better for millennials.
“We’re making sure that they get the best customer experience because we know millennials are a bit impatient. They demand only the best,” he said.
According to latest Insurance Commission data, Allianz PNB was the twelfth-largest life insurer in terms of premium income with P5.3 billion as of end-2017.

Researchers find new security flaw in Intel chips

WASHINGTON — Researchers have discovered a new security flaw that could let hackers pry information from supposedly secure virtual vaults in Intel chips, the company warned on Tuesday.
Intel said software updates are already available and it did not appear anyone had taken advantage of the “Foreshadow” vulnerability, which has been likened to troubling “Meltdown” and “Spectre” flaws exposed in computer chips early this year.
“If used for malicious purposes, this class of vulnerability has the potential to improperly infer data values from multiple types of computing devices,” Intel said on its website.
“Intel has worked with operating system vendors, equipment manufacturers, and other ecosystem partners to develop platform firmware and software updates that can help protect systems from these methods,” it said.
The “Meltdown” and “Spectre” flaws roiled the Silicon Valley chip maker, prompting a series of lawsuits and a congressional inquiry about Intel’s handling of the matter.
“We are not aware of reports that any of these methods have been used in real-world exploits, but this further underscores the need for everyone to adhere to security best practices,” Intel executive vice president and general manager of product assurance and security said of “Foreshadow” in a post on Intel’s website.
“Once systems are updated, we expect the risk to consumer and enterprise users running non-virtualized operating systems will be low.” — AFP

The sweet taste of success: a Syrian’s journey from Gitmo to pastries

MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY — Ahmed Ahjam spent more than 12 years in the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects, but now he has seen a dream come true by starting a business in the country that welcomed him when the nightmare ended.
“Ahmed Ahjam. Arab gastronomy,” reads a sign marking the small food stand that Ahjam opened Monday in Uruguay’s capital with help from city hall. He mainly sells sweets.
Ahjam, 41 and born in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, arrived here in 2014 along with six other prisoners from Guantanamo under an accord signed by the United States and Uruguay.
Washington was seeking countries willing to accept such inmates so it could move to empty the facility for terror suspects that was notorious for mistreating prisoners. Ahjam was one of the roughly 780 people sent to Guantanamo prison since 2002.
His stand has small chalkboards advertising some of his wares: baklava, the sesame paste tahini or Uruguayan-style candy.
A “NEW LIFE”
Ahjam now aims to make a new life in Uruguay thanks to this undertaking he began by selling his treats on Facebook.
“For me it is a dream come true. It is very important in my new life. I am very grateful to the Uruguayans who are close to me. I am going to work very hard,” Ahjam told reporters as he inaugurated his stand. He declined to take questions.
US Department of Defense officials believe he fought US and Coalition forces in the Tora Bora mountain cave complex in Afghanistan used by late Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
He fled bombardment before being captured by Pakistani authorities. According to Department of Defense records, he was handed over to US authorities in the Afghan city of Kandahar in January 2002 and incarcerated at Guantanamo from June 14, 2002.
Many of the assertions in the records are contested by former Guantanamo detainees and their lawyers and cannot be independently verified.
His is a success story that comes out of an integration initiative that has had its ups and downs here. Uruguay took in the Guantanamo prisoners in exchange for economic aid that grows smaller and smaller over time.
These men had trouble integrating into Uruguayan society and finding work. One of them left several times, only to come back, until he managed to depart definitively this year.
But Ahjam seeks just the opposite: he wants to remain in the country that welcomed him.
“It is highly symbolic that someone who is a refugee finds an alternative way to live, a productive thing to do. Everyone deserves an opportunity,” said Montevideo mayor Daniel Martinez, who was at the opening of the food stand.
HELP FROM CITY HALL
Ahjam’s store, which also serves coffee and juices, is located in the Montevideo Farmers Market, which used to be a wholesale venue but underwent a makeover to feature food stands, cultural exhibits, and shops.
His project was developed with help from a city agency called Cedel.
“In Syria he was a jeweler. These are different markets and times now, and in wanting to live in Uruguay and develop himself here, he thinks the cuisine of his country could be a way to make a living,” said Veronica de Gregorio, who runs one of the departments at Cedel.
“He is not in the program because he is a former prisoner at Guantanamo but rather because he has entrepreneurial spirit,” she added. — AFP

PAL asks SEC to approve equity restructuring

PAL HOLDINGS, Inc. said it sought Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval of a new equity restructuring plan.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Wednesday, the listed operator of Philippine Airlines (PAL) said it is seeking to use its additional paid-in capital of P25.340 billion last year “to partially wipe out its deficit” in the same year, which amounts to P29.074 billion.
In its 2017 annual report filed with the SEC, PAL Holdings said it employed the same strategy in October 2007, when it wanted to erase a deficit of P253.73 million against paid-in capital.
The SEC then allowed PAL to use its additional paid-in capital of P4.03 billion, “subject to the condition that the remaining additional paid-in capital will not be used to wipe out losses that may be incurred in the future without prior approval of the Philippine SEC.”
In September last year, the airline also requested from the SEC to reduce its authorized capital stock and cut on the par value of each share in the company-also a move to remove PAL’s deficit.
PAL was permitted to reduce its capital stock to P13 billion from P20 billion, which lowered the par value of each share to 13 centavos from 20 centavos.
PAL’s application for equity restructuring is intended to prepare the company for the entry of a new strategic investor.
PAL President Jaime J. Bautista also said in 2017 they are looking for a strategic investor that may buy “less than 40%” of the company. But he told reporters last month they have yet to come up with a resolve in their ongoing discussions.
“The situation kasi is very volatile at this time because of the oil price.” Mr. Bautista said.
PAL’s losses slipped by 17% in the second quarter to P290.817 million, from the P349.5 million it posted in the same period last year, driven by an increase in total revenues. — Denise A. Valdez

1...11,25011,25111,252...13,380Page 11,251 of 13,380
© 2024 BusinessWorld Publishing.
All rights reserved.
Read our privacy guidelines
Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube