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LTG’s Q2 attributable profit hits P5.3B

LT GROUP, Inc. (LTG) more than doubled its attributable profit during the second quarter of 2018, driven primarily by its banking unit’s sale of acquired properties alongside the stabilization of its tobacco business.
In a regulatory filing, the holding firm of tycoon Lucio C. Tan, Sr. said net income attributable to the parent hit P5.33 billion in the second quarter, 133% higher than the P2.28 billion it realized in the same period a year ago. Revenues expanded by 14% to P18.4 billion in the same period a year ago.
This pushed LTG’s attributable profit by 97% to P8.96 billion during the first half, versus the P4.53 billion recorded in the same period in 2017. This came on the back of a 13% increase in revenues to P35.56 billion.
“The income for 2018 was boosted by the gain booked by PNB (Philippine National Bank) for the sale of Real and Other Properties Acquired (ROPA). Moreover, earnings from the tobacco business is normalizing as the Government’s efforts to curb the illicit trade has enabled the Company to operate in a level playing field,” the company said.
LTG’s tobacco business accounted for bulk of the company’s attributable profit for the first semester at 54% or P4.86 billion, followed by PNB which provided 35% or P3.08 billion. Tanduay Distillers, Inc. (TDI) delivered P437 million, while property business Eton Properties Philippines, Inc. added P212 million and Victorias Milling Company, Inc. with P115 million.
Earnings of PNB more than doubled to P5.51 billion in the first semester, versus the P2.75 billion it booked in the same period a year ago. This was due to a net gain amounting to P2.9 billion from the sale of ROPA.
Without ROPA sales, PNB’s net income would have ended flat at P2.61 billion.
The tobacco business under Philip Morris Phils. Mfg., Inc. and Fortune Tobacco Corp. (PMFTC) generated a P4.88-billion profit in the first half. Equity in net earnings stood at P4.72 billion from the conglomerate’s 49.6% stake in PMFTC.
The company cited a four percent drop in total volumes for the tobacco industry to 34.3 billion due to excise tax driven price increases. Volumes are projected to continue slowing down as more price increases are implemented.
LTG noted, however, it benefited from better pricing for the period, saying it can now pass on increases in excise taxes to customers given the government’s campaign drive against illicit trade.
“The company hopes that the Government continues on its actions versus the illicit trade, which include smuggled and locally produced products,” LTG added.
TDI generated 29% higher earnings to P437 million in the first half, following a seven percent increase in revenues to P8.86 billion. The company observed a four percent increase in liquor volumes, coupled by higher selling prices due to the increase in excise taxes.
Meanwhile, Asia Brewery, Inc. posted lower net income for the first half, down 46% to P218 million, taking a hit from increased costs due to a rise in sugar taxes and the weaker peso. The company implemented a P2 increase for its 240ml returnable glass bottle of Cobra to pass on taxes for sugary drinks, prompting lower volumes.
Eton Properties’ net income went up by 22% to P212 million, lifted by revenues which climbed nine percent to P1.21 billion. The company recorded higher leasing revenues and sales from residential units for the period.
Shares in LTG went up by 1.04% or 18 centavos to close at P17.46 each at the stock exchange on Monday. — Arra B. Francia

Cebu Landmasters nets P826M in first half

CLI MesaVirre
CEBU Landmasters, Inc. is planning to launch more projects in the second half.

EARNINGS of Cebu Landmasters, Inc. (CLI) jumped by a third during the first six months of 2018, lifted by higher sales from its residential business amid ongoing expansion in the Visayas and Mindanao markets.
In a statement released on Monday, the listed property developer said net income hit P826 million in the January to June period, higher than the P633 million it generated in the same period a year ago. This constitutes less than half of the P1.7 billion profit target for the full year.
Revenues surged 45% to P2.6 billion, or around half of its full-year target of P5.3 billion.
“With record-breaking sales accompanied by our fast turnaround development, we are confident that this momentum can be sustained,” CLI President and Chief Executive Officer Jose R. Soberano III was quoted as saying in a statement.
Residential sales, which account for 95% of the company’s revenues, jumped 38% to P2.48 billion during the first half, driven mainly from the sales of projects catering to the economic and mid-market segment. Economic housing projects are those priced lower than P1.7 million, while the mid-market segment are projects priced more than P1.7 million up to around P4 million.
The specific projects that posted robust sales are MesaVerte Residences in Cagayan de Oro City, Baseline Center in Cebu City, Casa Mira South in Naga City, and Casa Mira Towers Labangon in Cebu City.
Reservation sales — which serve as a measure for future revenue to be recognized — climbed by 61% to P4.58 billion. This places the company on track to reach its P7-billion target in reservation sales for the year.
To reach its full-year target, CLI will be launching more projects in Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, as well as new sites in Iloilo, Bacolod, and Bohol in the second half of the year.
The Cebu-based firm also noted that it has already fully utilized the P2.1 billion raised from its initial public offering (IPO) last year. A total of 94% of the IPO proceeds were used for the purchase of key land properties and for joint ventures. With this, CLI’s land bank now stands at 976,302 square meters, 55% higher than what it had at the time of the IPO. All of CLI’s properties are in the Visayas and Mindanao area.
CLI has recently raised P5 billion from the issuance of corporate notes to further finance its ongoing expansion.
Shares in CLI dropped a centavo or 0.22% to close at P4.61 each at the stock exchange on Monday. — Arra B. Francia

The 14th Cinemalaya Film Festival winners

FULL-LENGTH FEATURE
• Best Film — Kung Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon (Waiting for Sunset)
• Best Director — Che Espiritu, Pan De Salawal
(The Sweet Taste of Salted Bread and Undies)
• Best Actor — Eddie Garcia, ML
• Best Actress — AiAi delas Alas, School Service
• Best Supporting Actress — Therese Malvar, School Service and Distance
• Best Supporting Actor — Ketchup Eusebio, Mamang
• Best Screenplay — John Carlo Pacaba,
Kung Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon
• Best Cinematography — Neil Daza, Kung Paano Hinihintay
ang Dapithapon
• Best Editing — Mikael Pestano, ML
• Best Production Design — Marielle Hizon, Kung Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon
• Best Original Musical Score — Len Calvo, Pan De Salawal
• Best Sound Design — Wildsound, Musmos na Sumibol sa Gubat ng Digma (Unless the Water is Safer than the Land)
• NETPAC Award — Kung Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon
• Special Jury Award — Pan De Salawal
• Special Jury Prize for Acting — Miel Espinosa and JM Salvado (Pan De Salawal) and Kenken Nuyad (School Service)
• Special Jury Commendation Award — Liway
• Audience Choice Award — Liway
SHORT FEATURE
• Best Film — Jodilerks dela Cruz, Employee of the Month
• Best Director — Xeph Suarez, Si Astri Maka si Tambulah (Astri and Tambulah)
• Best Screenplay — Christian Candelaria, Sa Saiyang Isla (In His Island)
• Special Jury Award — Si Astri Maka si Tambulah
• NETPAC Award — Sa Saiyang Isla
• Audience Choice Award — Kiko
THE NESPRESSO VERTICAL SHORTS COMPETITION
Winner — SLN
1st runner-up — Braveheart
2nd runner-up — Ako

Supermarket operators report mixed results for 1st six months

SUPERMARKET operators reported mixed results for the first half of 2018, while posting higher same-store sales growth for the period.
In a statement issued Monday, Puregold Price Club, Inc. (PGOLD) said net income grew by 25.6% in the first six months of 2018 to P3.08 billion, followed by a 13.2% jump in consolidated net sales to P64.03 billion.
Puregold stores contributed the bulk of the company’s revenues, or 79%, while the remaining 21% came from S&R Membership warehouse clubs and S&R New York Style Pizza stores.
Puregold and S&R’s same-store sales growth stood at 6.1% and 5.9%, respectively. The company said it benefited from higher consumer spending due to increased levels of take-home pay after the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law.
The company ended the first half of the year with a total of 393 stores. Of this, 341 are Puregold stores, 16 are S&R membership shopping warehouse, and 36 are S&R New York Style quick service restaurants.
PGOLD said it is on track to construct 25 new Puregold stores this year, in addition to two new S&R warehouses as part of its expansion plans for 2018.
Meanwhile, Metro Retail Stores Group, Inc. (MRSGI) saw its net income drop by 17% to P254.2 million from P305.2 million in the second quarter of 2018, as revenues likewise dipped 5.8% to P8 billion.
The company attributed the lower results to the impact of the fire that razed its department store and supermarket in Ayala Center Cebu last January.
“The year may have started on a challenging note, but our retail sales performance remains strong and this has allowed us to move forward with greater stability and confidence,” MRSGI Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frank S. Gaisano was quoted as saying in a statement.
Despite the profit decline, MRSGI recorded a same-store sales growth of 4.6%, which it noted is the highest for the past nine quarters.
For the first six months of the year, MRSGI’s net income slowed 14% to P344 million, while revenues went down 8.8% to P14.9 billion.
Mr. Gaisano noted the company has already started to re-build its flagship store in Cebu.
“Rest assured that we are doing our best to accelerate the first phase of the store’s re-launch within the year,” he added.
MRSGI currently operates 51 stores across Central, Western, and Eastern Visayas, Central Luzon, Metro Manila, and South Luzon. It is looks to further expand its presence in Visayas and Luzon, with plans to double the gross floor area it had in 2015 by 2020.
Shares in PGOLD slipped by 1.32% or 60 centavos to close at P45 each at the stock exchange on Monday, while shares in MRSGI dropped 2.44% or seven centavos to close at P2.80 each. — Arra B. Francia

‘Asian August’ comes to Hollywood, but will it last?


LOS ANGELES — Phil Yu is excited. The Los Angeles-based blogger saw an advance screening months ago of Crazy Rich Asians and now the first Hollywood movie in 25 years with an all-Asian cast is about to arrive in theaters along with two other predominantly Asian films.
“I’ve been driving around town seeing posters for Crazy Rich Asians and it gives me a real thrill. It’s like, Wow! Do white people feel like this all the time?” said Yu, who has been writing his Angry Asian Man blog since 2001.
The romantic comedy, based on the best-selling book by Singapore-American Kevin Kwan and opening on Wednesday, is the first all-Asian Hollywood studio movie since The Joy Luck Club in 1993.
Crazy Rich Asians, which stars Michelle Yeoh, will be joined by two others this month in a breakout moment for Asian filmmaking that will test whether US audiences will turn out en masse to watch.
Sony Pictures indie thriller Searching, featuring an Asian-American family and directed by an Indian-American newcomer, opens in US theaters on Aug. 24, while the Netflix adaptation of young-adult novel To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, starring an Asian teen, will be released next week.
“I hope it’s Asian August. I think this is the start of a new movement,” said Jon M. Chu, director of Warner Bros.’ Crazy Rich Asians.
“The audience needs to decide. If they show up on opening weekend, that sends a very clear message to the studios that more will be made. They are sitting at their desks right now with movies that have not been greenlit,” Chu said.
PRESSURE IS HIGH
Asians make up 5.8% of the US population, according to the 2017 census, but a University of Southern California study showed that 37 of the top 100 grossing films in 2017 had no Asian characters.
When they do appear on screen, Asian actors are often cast in martial arts sequences, or as the token ethnic best friend or other stereotypical roles.
Worse still, Hollywood has a history of whitewashing. Emma Stone was cast as a Hawaiian-Chinese character in the 2015 film Aloha and Scarlett Johansson played a role meant for a Japanese woman in last year’s Ghost in the Shell.
Amid the anticipation among the American-Asian community at the sudden spotlight, the pressure is on.
“There is a lot riding on this,” said Guy Aoki, founding president of the Los Angeles-based Media Action Network for Asian Americans. “On one hand you are excited and on the other you go ‘Oh God, I hope this does well’ because if it doesn’t, we are screwed.”
While Crazy Rich Asians is set in the world of the super wealthy in Singapore’s ethnic Chinese community, Searching, starring John Cho, could have featured any ethnicity.
“We’re the first contemporary mainstream thriller to ever have an Asian-American lead. That is crazy because it’s 2018,” said director Aneesh Chaganty.
WIDER THEMES
Author Jenny Han insisted on casting an Asian as the lead in the adaptation of her novel, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.
“It wasn’t that she needed to be Asian; it’s just that she was. Never in my life have I seen an Asian-American girl star in a teen movie before,” Han said.
The makers of Crazy Rich Asians are stressing the movie’s wider themes, aware that the estimated $20 million budget film must succeed outside the Asian-American community.
Yet Aoki and Yu say it is unfair to place the future of Asian filmmaking in Hollywood on one or two films.
“One romantic comedy with two Asian faces on the poster having to hold up the dreams and hopes of an entire community is just not fair,” Yu said. — Reuters

Office take-up seen to breach 1M sq.m. this year

By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
THE PHILIPPINE office market is expected to record a net take-up of more than one million square meters (sq.m.) by the end of 2018, driven by the expansion of outsourcing companies that previously held off their expansion plans last year.
This is according to real estate consultancy services firm Colliers International Philippines, which attributed the strong demand to Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms.
For the first half of 2018, Colliers said net take-up reached 641,000 sq.m., higher than the 638,000 sq.m recorded in the same period a year ago. The company is further projecting a net take-up of 413,000 sq.m. for the July to December period, pushing the full-year figure to a record high of 1.06 million sq.m.
Demand from BPOs and knowledge process outsourcing firms accounted for 42% of the total transactions in the first half of 2018, higher than their 31% share in the first half of 2017.
It noted BPOs previously delayed their expansion plans due to uncertainty in the office market as a result of the protectionist stance of United States President Donald J. Trump.
There was also a perceived decline in peace and order situation in the country due to extrajudicial killings under President Rodrigo R. Duterte, and a delay in the proclamation of accredited buildings by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.
The strong take-up indicates these concerns have now been addressed, according to Colliers.
“We have observed that transactions in the first six months of the year remain diversified and Colliers believes that this bodes well for the Manila office sector in general,” Colliers Philippines Director for Office Services Dom Fredrick Andaya said in a statement.
Traditional offices accounted for 34% of the net take-up for the first half, driven by government agencies, construction, telecommunications, banking, finance, warehousing, logistics, and manufacturing firms. Most of the spaces are located in the Bay Area as well as the Makati Central Business District.
Offshore gaming firms meanwhile accounted for 24% of the total deals for the first semester of 2018 at around 180,000 sq.m. The company noted that while offshore gaming companies initially started occupying spaces in the Bay Area, they have now started expanding to other areas in the second quarter, mostly to Quezon City and the fringe areas in Makati City.
Colliers said the strong demand will be complemented by the record-high completion of new office buildings as well.
From around 630,000 sq.m. of leasable space completed during the first half, Colliers said at least 440,000 sq.m. will be added for the second semester.
Completion of new office spaces is further expected to ramp up starting 2019 to 2021, with Colliers projecting 820,000 sq.m. to be added during this period located mostly in the Bay Area, Fort Bonifacio, and Ortigas Center.

AC Energy inks construction, financing deals to expand solar farm in Vietnam

AC ENERGY, Inc. and its Vietnamese partner have signed construction and financing deals to expand the capacity of their solar farm in Vietnam’s Ninh Thuan province to make it the biggest in Southeast Asia, its parent firm told the stock exchange on Monday.
“We are excited to scale up our development initiatives in Vietnam. We expect to build on this momentum and add more projects in the future,” said Eric T. Francia, AC Energy’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
With the signing of the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract and the project financing, AC Energy and BIM Group of Vietnam expect to increase the solar farm size from the 30 megawatt-peak (MWp) that broke ground early this year to 280 MWp.
“The joint venture plans to further expand the capacity to well over 300 MWp. Once completed, the solar farm will become the largest in Southeast Asia. The project is expected to commence operations in time for the June 2019 solar feed-in tariff deadline,” AC Energy parent Ayala Corp. said.
The Ayala’s energy business arm said its project is estimated to cost around $237 million, which will be financed by debt and equity. AC Energy will participate with a 30% voting stake and about 50% economic share, it added.
AC Energy described BIM Group as a diversified corporation with businesses in tourism development and real estate investment; agriculture — food; commercial services; and renewable energy.
“BIM Group has a significant experience in business development in Ninh Thuan, the host province for the solar project,” it added.
Mr. Francia last month said that he expects 70% AC Energy’s target renewable energy capacity of 1,000 MW by 2020 to come from foreign projects, including its investments in Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia.
In April last year, AC Energy and its joint venture partners completed the acquisition of Chevron Corp.’s geothermal assets and operations in Indonesia, further boosting AC Energy’s renewable energy portfolio in that country after earlier investing in a wind farm.
The Chevron deal gave AC Energy a 19.8% stake in the 637-MW geothermal steam and power capacity in Darajat and Salak geothermal fields along with its 75% stake in the 75-MW wind farm project in Sidrap, South Sulawesi. These acquisitions more than doubled the company’s clean energy capacity to at least 264 MW.
AC Energy has more than $1 billion of invested and committed equity in renewable and thermal energy in the Philippines and around the region. It aspires to surpass 5 gigawatts of attributable capacity and generate at least 50% of energy from renewables by 2025. — Victor V. Saulon

DLSU releases book of essays on select Philippine film directors

IT WAS NOT an exhaustive book about the directors of Philippine cinema by any means, but screenwriter/director/author Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr. hopes that his (and the book’s contributors) three-year labor of love would inspire other film scholars to follow suit and create many more books about Filipino filmmaking.
“Certainly, there are more Filipino filmmakers that should be subjects of serious study,” Mr. Del Mundo said in the introduction of Direk: Essays on Filipino Filmmakers.
He noted that the book — which features 15 Filipino auteurs from pre-World War II’s Manuel Silos and Manuel Conde to Golden Age directors such as Ishmael Bernal, and contemporary names such as Lav Diaz and Peque Gallaga — was a remedy to the “glaring lack of literature about Filipino filmmakers,” in an interview with BusinessWorld shortly before the book’s launch on Aug. 9 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Mr. Del Mundo bemoaned the fact that many of the films done in the pre-World War II era have been lost, either to war or sheer neglect which limits the studies one can do on the film industry back then.
He would have liked to have essays on Celso Ad. Castillo, Carlos Siguion-Reyna, and Raymond Red, among many others, and encourages film scholars and enthusiasts to create their own anthologies.
As a member of the Society of Filipino Archivists for Film (SOFIA), he stressed the importance of having a national film archive to preserve the works of past, present and future directors.
In one of his essays, he mentioned that “none of Manuel Silos’ pre-war films appear to be extant; therefore it would be difficult to judge the quality of his work during the period,” and so he resorted to getting “a sense of substance” of Silos’ films through synopses found in newspapers and magazines of the time.
Manuel Silos is described as one of the more prolific directors of Philippine cinema from the 1920s to the ’50s. He first started as a vaudeville comedian before directing the silent film Los Tres Zanganos (1927). Mr. Del Mundo mentioned that before the outbreak of WWII, Mr. Silos already had 22 films in his filmography.
The book, 352-pages long, is divided into three sections: “Short Takes,” or short essays on Manuel Silos, Gerardo de Leon and Eddie Romero; “Medium Shots,” which has longer essays on Manuel Conde, Lamberto Avellana, Fernando Poe, Jr., Lino Brocka, Ishmael Bernal, Peque Gallaga, Mike de Leon, Mario O’Hara, Kidlat Tahimik and Brillante Ma. Mendoza; and “Long Takes,” which has exhaustive essays on Marilou Diaz-Abaya and Lav Diaz.
The essays were written by film critics like BusinessWorld’s Noel Vera who wrote about Mario O’Hara, and educators like Ronald Baytan who tackled Ishmael Bernal, Shirley O. Lua who wrote about Fernando Poe, Jr., Nicanor G. Tiongson who wrote on Manuel Conde, and Vicente Garcia Groyon whose essay was on Peque Gallaga.
The book was published by the De La Salle University Publishing House. Those who are interested in getting copies of Direk: Essays on Filipino Filmmakers can contact the publisher, Dr. David Jonathan Bayot, Director/Executive Publisher of the De La Salle University Publishing House at david.bayot@dlsu.edu.ph or call 524-4611 local 271. The Publishing House is located at De La Salle University, 2401 Taft Ave., Malate, Manila. — Zsarlene B. Chua

Eurotel group pouring more funds to renovate Davao’s Apo View Hotel

DAVAO CITY — Global Comfort Group Corp., the company behind the Eurotel and Icon hotel brands, is injecting more funds until 2019 for the renovation of rooms and the construction of a halal kitchen at the Apo View Hotel.
An additional P15 million has been allocated this year for the refurbishment of 36 hotel rooms, while the budget for 2019 has yet to be finalized, according to Apo View Assistant General Manager Cesar C. Canabal.
“We are turning the rooms of the hotel into new themed rooms,” said Mr. Canabal in an interview over the weekend, noting hotel guests wanted a more modern look and better internet connectivity.
The construction of a halal kitchen, meanwhile, is intended to address the demand of Muslim guests and in recognition of the growing halal tourism market.
Mr. Canabal said Apo View has been enjoying an average occupancy rate of 65% for its 182 rooms. About 60% of total revenues come from function room rentals, mostly for local events.
In 2014, Global Comfort Group took over the operations of Apo View Hotel, which turned 70 this year.
The company has since invested P140 million for renovations and the construction of 25 additional rooms.
Mr. Canabal said the hotel’s restaurants and swimming pool will also get a facelift.
Global Comfort Group is also planning to build a boutique hotel under the Icon brand within the Apo View compound. The boutique hotel will offer lower room rates. — Carmelito Q. Francisco

Villar’s VLL raises 2018 profit target

VISTA LAND & Lifescapes, Inc. (VLL) hiked its full-year profit growth target to 15-17%, as the Villar-led property developer saw stronger residential sales in the first six months.
“We’re doing better. The sales are better in residential… Our bottomline guidance has increased. Then it’s 12% (profit target), now we’re averaging 15-17%,” VLL President and Chief Executive Officer Manuel Paolo A. Villar said in a media briefing in Makati City yesterday.
The listed firm reported in a regulatory filing that net income jumped by a fifth to P2.63 billion in the second quarter of 2018, on the back of a 20% rise in revenues to P11.06 billion for the period.
This brought VLL’s net income 17% higher to P5.24 billion in the first half of 2018, following a 16% uptick in revenues to P21.14 billion during the first six months of the year.
VLL’s residential business accounted for 84% of its total revenues for the first half, while the leasing segment generated 16%. The sale of units under the affordable brand Camella provided for 77% of total real estate sales.
Under the commercial segment, VLL had 1.12 million square meters in gross floor area (GFA) by end-June. This consisted of 24 malls, 50 commercial centers, and seven offices. The company had 24 Vista Malls with 28,526 in GFA during this period, with plans to add seven more to end the year with 30 Vista Malls.
VLL launched a total of 28 projects worth P23.7 billion in the first half, 17 of which were located outside Metro Manila. The company’s land bank now stands at 41% in the provincial areas, while 59% is in Mega Manila.
The firm said it spent P22.4 billion out of its P50-billion capital expenditure in the January to June period.
Given its performance in the first semester, Mr. Villar said they are gunning for a similar performance in the second half of the year.
“We’re very optimistic to have a similar performance, that we can maintain a similar pace until the end of the year,” Mr. Villar said.
The VLL executive likewise said the company raised its reservation sales target of P72 billion for 2018, but did not disclose exact figures. Reservation sales grew by 18% to P38 billion by end-June.
Mr. Villar said they plan to raise P5-10 billion from a combination of bank loans and retail bonds in the second half. This will be used to finance its capex for the rest of the year.
Shares in VLL were unchanged at P6.04 each at the stock exchange on Monday. — Arra B. Francia

With good crowd this year, History Con may expand


THE RAIN over the weekend didn’t stop crowds from flocking to the third edition of History Channel’s History Con, one of the biggest entertainment conventions in the country.
While official attendance numbers — as of this writing — are not yet out, its Philippine channel head is confident they will surpass last year’s crowd of more than 68,800.
In fact, with the growth of the convention, the channel is already mulling over plans for when they eventually outgrow the convention’s current venue, the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
“We might extend over to the PTTC (Philippine Trade Training Center),” Jacque M. Ruby, A+E Networks’ Philippine head, told the media shortly before a press conference on Aug. 10 at the World Trade Center.
When they started the concept in 2016, said Mr. Ruby, the brains behind the convention, he didn’t think it would become as big as it is now. He went on to say that it is proof of how much Filipinos love entertainment and history.
In 2016, the event attracted 50,000 attendees.
There are plans to host the convention in other Philippine cities such as Cebu or Davao though Mr. Ruby said there nothing is concrete yet.
This year, History Con welcomed the usual swath of curiosities, from a Battle of Manila booth created by Veterans Bank featuring Japanese soldiers and a World War II tank, to Viking cosplayers, to a collectible items auction, tarot readings, and a Kendo demonstration, among others.
But History Con wouldn’t be History Con without the presence of the channel’s stars and none are brighter than Giorgio A. Tsoukalos of Ancient Aliens and Katheryn Winnick of Vikings.
Both Mr. Tsoukalos and Ms. Winnick said they were excited to meet their Filipino fans, with Mr. Tsoukalos saying that he has returned to the country because of the great reception he received in 2016. — Zsarlene B. Chua

Concentrix bullish on Philippines, opens new contact center

By Bjorn Biel M. Beltran, Special Features Writer
CONCENTRIX PHILIPPINES is keeping a rosy outlook on its growth in the Philippines, calling the country a “pre-eminent destination for business.”
This comes as the business services company launched a “progressive” contact center at EXXA Tower in the Bridgetowne development in Barangay Ugong Norte, Quezon City.
Elek Christopher Toth, Concentrix country leader and vice-president for Philippine operations and delivery, said the improving infrastructure and a well-educated workforce helps keep the Philippines as one of the leading countries in the global business process outsourcing sector.
“We’re very bullish on the Philippines. We think it’s a pre-eminent destination for business,” Mr. Toth told reporters during the EXXA Tower launch.
“We see ever improving infrastructure, which is really important, and I think the K-12 initiative will go ahead and prepare students for when they enter the workforce.”
Mr. Toth added that Concentrix’s newest site in the Philippines is an affirmation that the country remains a premier destination for customer engagement services.
EXXA Tower, the company’s second center in Bridgetowne, is part of a larger campus project Concentrix has planned in the area. The site complements five Concentrix campuses in other parts of Metro Manila and in Naga, Cagayan De Oro, Davao, and Cebu.
With 18,000 square meters of space, the facility features a spacious operations area with open “collaboration corners,” comfortable meeting rooms, private acoustic spaces and a mobile laboratory complete with learning pods.
Mr. Toth explained the company is moving away from the “old-fashioned” cubicle office format in favor of the more open and collaborative workstations, in the hopes of improving how employees learn and succeed.
Employees also have access to a modern wellness center, shower rooms, vanity areas, and a salon within the facility.
“This is the physical manifestation of our culture, and our fanaticism for our clients and our staff. It’s our commitment to surround them with a world-class facility, while they provide world-class services,” Mr. Toth said.
Concentrix, a wholly owned subsidiary of SYNNEX Corporation, employs over 110,000 staff in more than 125 delivery centers around the world.
The company offers technology-infused, omni-channel customer experience management, marketing optimization, digital, consulting, analytics, and back office solutions in more than 40 languages, and serves a number of industries, from automotive, banking and financial services to retail, and e-commerce.

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