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THE PHILIPPINE Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) on Monday said that it remitted P4.59 billion in cash dividends to the Bureau of the Treasury.
The remittance will help “fund the national government’s efforts in ensuring the country’s sustained economic growth and development,” it said in a statement.
PAGCOR noted that this remittance accounts for 75% of its net income in 2023.
“It is higher than the usual 50% remittance pursuant to the request of Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto to PAGCOR to advance an additional 25% dividend to fund government expenditures.”
By law, government-owned or -controlled corporations, or GOCCs, are required to declare and remit at least 50% of their net earnings to the National Government.
Last year, PAGCOR booked P6.13 billion in net earnings from gaming operations. It also recorded P79.37 billion in gross revenues.
“[The] income performance in 2023 set the stage for this higher dividend contribution to the national government,” PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro H. Tengco said.
Broken down, its remittance is composed of its P3.06 billion dividends or the mandated 50% of net earnings last year, as well as the P1.53 billion requested by the Finance department.
This year, PAGCOR is expecting that its revenues from gaming operations will reach P81.27 billion. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson
NEW YORK — While the increase in interest rates engineered by the Federal Reserve over the last two years put a damper on the overall US housing market, it took a sledgehammer to home flippers from small contractors to reality TV stars.
Just ask Tarek El Moussa, star of HGTV’s The Flipping El Moussas and former co-host of the real estate and renovation focused channel’s mainstay, Flip or Flop.
“How do I account for [interest rates]? I got my ass kicked last year. I lost a lot of money. And that’s just the reality of the business,” said Mr. El Moussa.
Indeed, house flipping — or investing in, and often renovating, a single-family home with the intent to sell for a profit — has fallen from heights seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of Americans acting as investors in the housing market dove 38.85% between 2021 and 2023’s fourth quarter, according to property data provider ATTOM Data Solutions. Through the fourth quarter of 2023, the share of homes purchased by investors fell 11% on a year-over-year basis, a report from real estate and mortgage firm Redfin said.
Even so, housing investors spent $32.3 billion on homes in the US in 2023, compared with $33.6 billion a year earlier, and flippers bought 26% of the lowest-priced homes during 2023’s fourth quarter, Redfin said.
FRENETIC MARKET
HGTV’s Mr. El Moussa bought 91 homes in 2021 — garnering him a $600,000 average monthly mortgage payment. Then mortgage rates surged, home sales in southern California plunged, and he found himself with inventory he could not offload.
Home flipping does best in a frenetic “buyer’s market,” with prices rising amid increased transactions, said Chen Zhao, Redfin’s senior economist. After the Fed began hiking rates in March 2022 to lower inflation, buyers and sellers held off, creating gridlock in the housing market.
Rates eventually reached a two-decade high near 8% in October, and the resulting market has presented investors with the same issue home-buyers face — limited inventory and lukewarm demand.
Rates have eased somewhat: Freddie Mac said on Thursday the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.87%. Still, the current scene is a striking departure from the onset of the pandemic when sub-4% mortgage rates and heightened demand could promise a juicy profit.
LOWER MARGINS, LABOR TROUBLES
For Elisa Covington, an investor based in the San Francisco Bay Area, a return on investment during 2021 often swung between 60% and 70%, she said, occasionally hitting 100%.
“In 2021 and early 2022, my projects were getting much higher returns,” Covington said. “But this year the profit margin for most of my projects have been in line with my expectations” of 30% to 40%.
Lack of homebuyer demand would make it easier on investors looking for single family homes, but reduced inventory has largely outweighed that, cutting into acquisition trends.
Julio Martinez, co-owner and broker at JATS Properties in Los Angeles, said “2023 was kind of weird.” He acquired just six homes last year and even that was due to several of the properties being in foreclosure. If not for that, “we probably would’ve only done one or two.”
Some construction companies say cooling home investment has cut into new business activity. Ghulam Mustafa, owner of New-York based Sahara Builders, said the decline in his firm’s full-gut renovation projects since the pandemic has caused a 40% decline in profit since 2021 through the end of 2023.
Last year “was much slower than the pandemic,” Mr. Mustafa said.
For contractors who don’t build new homes, steady project supply in the absence of gut-renovations is replaced by smaller-ticket refurbishing projects for existing home-owners, RedFin’s Zhao said.
For house flippers, meanwhile, lower profits have reduced the labor they can hire for renovations, which can decelerate sales.
JATS Properties’ Mr. Martinez had to let go of a full-time handyman, he said. In addition to property flipping, his family-owned company operates as brokers and property managers, so that labor loss meant less attention to home-flip projects.
“We had to slow [workers] down on our projects, and lend them out to our clients,” said Mr. Martinez. “Typically, we take first priority because they’re our employees. But when we don’t have the funds to cover our own projects, we have them work on our clients’ homes. It’s taking the burden of expense of those employees off our backs.”
FADING STARS
Amid the slow turnover, flippers are diversifying their activities.
Mr. Martinez, who saw transaction volume in 2023 fall by half from 2021, began making property-secured loans to aspiring investors. And Mr. El Moussa, who needed to gird for losses he knew were coming from unsold flipper projects, shifted to buying home purchase contracts wholesale and selling to investors, deals that typically net smaller margins but are less risky than traditional flipping.
“In order to get prepared for those losses that were coming, I stopped buying houses to flip and I only focused on wholesaling,” he said.
The story has changed for the house flipper reality TV landscape as well.
HGTV ad revenue slid from a four-year high of $42.7 million in 2021 to $32.6 million in 2023, according to data from iSpot.TV, a television ad measurement company, though it continues to hold dominant share in its market segment.
Shows like The El Moussas have increasingly incorporated discussions on rates, slow turnover, and price acceleration in Southern California to keep viewers engaged, said Loren Ruch, head of home content at HGTV. Show development focus has turned to standalone secondary homes, for example a guest house, and multi-generational living.
“People might not be spending huge amounts of money on design or renovation projects, so we’re also looking into a variety of shows that are more approachable price points that are maybe based on not doing as much demolition, but actually focusing on the space and the configuration,” said Loren Ruch. — Reuters
Premium Leisure Corp. | Announcement of Annual Stockholders’ Meeting
Please see below for the Announcement of the Annual Stockholders’ Meeting of Premium Leisure Corp.
To all Stockholders:
The Annual Stockholders’ Meeting of Premium Leisure Corp. (the Company) will be held on April 22, 2024, Monday at 11:00 A.M. to be conducted in hybrid format, the Chairman and Secretary of the Meeting, as well as directors and key officers shall attend in person at the City of Dreams Manila, Entertainment City, cor. Macapagal Ave., Aseana Ave., Paranaque City; the stockholders will be participating by remote communication via Zoom Webinar. Voting shall be conducted in absentia through the Company’s secure online voting facility.
Agenda:
Please refer to Annex A for a brief explanation of each agenda item for approval.
The Board of Directors (Board) has fixed the end of trading hours of The Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. on March 15, 2024 as the record date for the determination of stockholders entitled to the notice of, participation via remote communication, and voting in absentia at such meeting and any adjournment thereof.
The conduct of the meeting will be streamed live, and stockholders may attend the meeting by registering via https://asmregister.premiumleisurecorp.com and submitting the supporting documents listed there until 12 noon of April 19, 2024 (Friday). All information submitted shall be verified and validated by the Corporate Secretary.
Stockholders who wish to cast votes through a proxy may accomplish the proxy form (which need not be notarized) and submit the same on or before 12 noon of April 19, 2024. To facilitate submission, scanned forms may first be sent electronically through plccorsec@premiumleisurecorp.com with hard copies to be submitted to the office of the Corporate Secretary c/o Serrano Law at 1105 Tower 2 High Street South Corporate Plaza, 26th Street Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City 1634.
Stockholders who successfully registered can cast their votes in absentia through the Company’s secure online voting facility for this meeting. In order to participate through remote communication, they will also be provided with access to the meeting that will be held virtually. The “Guidelines for Participation via Remote Communication and Voting in Absentia” as appended to the Information Statement and labeled as Schedule A, together with the Information Statement, Annual Report on SEC Form 17-A (once available) and other pertinent materials for the Annual Stockholders’ Meeting are posted in the Company’s website https://www.premiumleisurecorp.com/ASM2024 and PSE EDGE.
(SGD.)
ELMER B. SERRANO
Corporate Secretary
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ISLAND GARDEN CITY OF SAMAL — Malipano Island, located just a five-minute speedboat ride from Pearl Farm Beach Resort, is undergoing upgrades to offer luxury experiences to its clientele.
The seven-hectare private island houses seven luxurious villas and an exclusive three-storey villa.
Facilities on the island include a three-hole golf course, a small chapel, and the Malipano clubhouse featuring a swimming pool, bar, and pavilion.
The pavilion showcases Mindanaon-inspired designs, including chandeliers made of abaca and ceilings adorned with anahaw leaves.
It also features Capiz lights, firewood tables, balangay, which is sometimes used as a buffet table, and several jars from different parts of Mindanao.
Interior designs are a collaboration between Mañosa Architect and Maricris Floirendo-Brias, head for hospitality, designer, and creative director of Tadeco Home and Tnalak Home, said Josu Mikel Villaverde, vice-president and general manager of Pearl Farm, in an interview with BusinessWorld.
With the existing seven three-bedroom villas, the management is adding six more villas, which could accommodate four persons each.
These will be two-bedroom villas with two large rooms and a living room in the middle, fully air-conditioned. Each villa will have a deck leading to its swimming pool and will include butler service.
Construction of three villas is scheduled to begin this month, with a focus on sea-facing views of Samal Island.
“But this will not affect the operations on the island as that is located on the northern tip,” Mr. Villaverde said.
He said the villas will cater to different markets. The three-bedroom villa is for larger groups like family. Other villas will be for the executives, entrepreneurs, and professionals.
Mr. Villaverde said they are extending another hectare for other services.
He said the management is leasing the one-hectare Dela Paz Island and will connect it to Malipano Island through a bridge so that guests can explore and experience adventure.
“We are very proud of this project and have been working on it for months already. This will be the pinnacle of our accommodation nowadays. We aimed at Malipano as an upscale resort separated from Pearl Farm Beach Resort in terms of experience and services, with butler services available. It’s very high-end, and guests of Malipano will have access to Dela Paz Island,” Mr. Villaverde said.
He also said that the guests of Malipano Island can also access facilities at Pearl Farm Beach Resort for added convenience.
“Nevertheless, we are thinking of the Filipino market not only the foreign market for the island. In terms of pricing, there will be a proportion, but not so expensive as we want the market to enjoy our resort,” he said.
“By adding more villas, we envisioned a private luxury experience for those who are looking for something really special,” Mr. Villaverde added. — Maya M. Padillo
LOANS disbursed by thrift banks grew by 16.3% to P677 billion in 2023 from P582.9 billion in the previous year, an industry official said.
“The thrift banking industry maintains its stability and showed encouraging growth, with key indicators such as sustained growth in resources, supported by increased deposit mobilization and adequate capitalization,” Chamber of Thrift Banks (CTB) President Cecilio D. San Pedro said in a speech at an event on Friday.
The sector’s nonperforming loan ratio stood at 6.46% as of end-2023, he said.
On the funding side, total deposits rose by 6.5% to P789.3 billion from P740.8 billion.
“As of Dec. 31, 2023, total assets stood at P1.04 trillion, higher by 7.3% vs. P986.20 billion in 2022,” Mr. San Pedro said.
Total capital increased by 10% to P157 billion from P142.8 billion, while the industry’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 16.98%, well above the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) minimum 10% requirement, he noted.
Mr. San Pedro said the CTB will be hosting training programs for its member banks this year on sustainable finance, environmental social risk management and risk management compliance frameworks, as well as the BSP’s initiatives on digital transformation and cybersecurity.
The CTB is also urging its members to submit their data to the Credit Information Corp. to avoid penalties and ensure a robust data ecosystem, he said.
Mr. San Pedro also reiterated the CTB’s opposition to a bill proposing to cap interest rates imposed by financial institutions, noting this could result in slower credit growth and that rates should be market determined to allow for flexibility. — A.M.C. Sy
THREE FACTS stand out as clear amid the lack of hard information about the perpetrators of Friday’s appalling terrorist attack on Russia, and all three shine a light on dangers inherent in the new multipolar world we now inhabit.
The first is that, before the attack, Vladimir Putin dismissed a US warning that it was coming, both in public and to his top security officers. He called the American intelligence that Islamists were planning an assault on a large Russian venue blackmail, aimed at destabilizing his country — a vague goal he did nothing to explain. There was a time not so long ago when Putin understood that Washington considered Islamist radicalism a shared threat, taken so seriously that it was ring-fenced from other disputes. He would have used the warning, even if he couldn’t prevent the attack.
Yet so shredded has trust become between Moscow and Washington since Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, if not since his 2014 annexation of Crimea, that he fell victim to paranoia. Had he been able to think rationally, Russia’s president would have known this was a game the US wouldn’t play, because it could only lose. Toward the end of the short address to the nation after Friday night’s attack, Putin said he would work with all “genuinely” concerned nations to fight international terrorism — so perhaps he has recognized his mistake. I very much doubt it.
The second piece of clarity is that while Putin has, remarkably, managed to persuade much of the Global South that his invasion of a former imperial possession somehow makes him a fellow victim of Western colonialism, Islamists are having none of it. They don’t care a hoot about Ukraine, but they also make no distinction between Russian and Western colonialism.
As far as Islamic State (IS) or al-Qaeda is concerned, Putin’s military interventions in Syria and Chechnya are no different from America’s in Iraq or Libya. Nor is the presence of a large Russian military base in predominantly Sunni Muslim Tajikistan — the ex-Soviet country that the arrested suspects may have been from — any less offensive to Islamist ideas than the presence of US military bases in the Gulf. Russia is for them a part of the Christian West. It doesn’t belong anywhere on the territory of their imagined Islamic caliphate.
Finally, Putin could confidently hint at Ukrainian responsibility, thus absolving his own lapse of vigilance, because no matter what evidence emerges to the contrary, he knows he will be able to sell whatever story he likes at home — such is the totality of his control over the media, and eradication of organized opposition. Putin has demonstrated this ability repeatedly throughout his war in Ukraine, and it’s deeply worrying. He can now generate domestic popular support for virtually any decision or aggression. Worse, the creeping spread of what one might call populist “authoritocracies” makes that true for a growing number of leaders.
We can’t yet know for sure that Ukraine didn’t facilitate the Moscow attack, because it’s very hard to prove a negative. The only verifiable evidence of Ukrainian involvement that Putin has cited — namely that the killers were arrested while driving in Ukraine’s direction — is weak. It also would imply a near-suicidal stupidity in Kyiv. There was a roughly 100% chance that Putin would blame Ukraine for the attack, and the US, implicated by association, wouldn’t forgive being pulled into something that jeopardizes so core a security interest as counterterrorism.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the atrocity at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall concert venue, and that’s likely true. IS has put out footage of the killers that was taken before the attack, and it matches with the images Russian television showed of the men afterward. The four arrested men were identified as Tajiks, and the US believes the IS branch responsible to be Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), a province of Islamic State’s nonexistent caliphate that would include much of Afghanistan, the northern part of which is ethnic Tajik, as well as Pakistan and Central Asia, including Tajikistan. The Russian security services said they foiled another IS-K attack in Moscow just a month ago.
That doesn’t, of course, prove that the IS operation didn’t get an assist from Ukraine, but so far that has the smell of a conspiracy theory. The confession by a captive to his Russian guards that an anonymous caller offered him 1 million rubles ($10,850) to conduct the attack would certainly be inconsistent with an IS-directed operation, but was also offered under the definition of duress: on camera, on his knees and at the mercy of armed security officers. There’s no recording of what came before, and so we don’t know what he may have been told to say if he wanted to stay alive.
The eradication of trust breeds conspiracy theories and also makes them all but impossible to shoot down. So it’s likely Putin will stick with his Ukraine story no matter what. That wasn’t always as attractive or as easy to pull off as it is now. Yes, the US-dominated, globalized world that followed the Soviet collapse of 1991 was hardly safe; it was also deeply flawed and unequal. Yet the trade and economic integration that it relied on placed some basic boundaries — and required a minimum of mutual acceptance among governments that made space for the kind of warning the US gave to Moscow to be believed, even when relations in other areas were poor. That minimal level of confidence also allowed for organizations such as the United Nations and G-20 to function as more than gladiatorial arenas for performative diplomacy. But no more.
BLOOMBERG OPINION
METRO Pacific Tollways South (MPT South), a unit of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), is expecting traffic volume within its network to rise by up to 10% this week.
With the expected traffic influx, the toll road operator will reactivate its motorist assistance program and will deploy additional manpower like traffic management, toll collection officers as well as emergency and incident response teams.
The surge of about 8% to 10% in traffic volume is expected from Monday until Sunday, MPTC said in a media release.
Typically, around 43,000 motorists daily traverse along Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX), about 170,000 motorists on Manila-Cavite Expressway (CAVITEX), and 12,300 motorists travel along MPTC’s C5 Link segment.
Raul L. Ignacio, president and general manager of MPT South, said motorists should utilize RFID or radio frequency identification system for seamless toll transactions during this time.
“Utilizing Easytrip RFID at MPTC Toll Plazas significantly reduces travel time compared to waiting in long cash lanes,” he said.
Easytrip is used on MPTC’s North Luzon Expressway, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, CAVITEX, and CALAX.
The toll road developer and operator will also suspend the construction and lane closures along its roadway during this time unless repairs are necessary, it said.
MPTC is the tollways unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which is one of three key Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT Inc.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Ashley Erika O. Jose
LOS ANGELES — Sydney Sweeney takes on two roles for her latest film Immaculate, starring and producing the horror movie set in an Italian convent.
The movie is currently on view in Philippines theaters.
The Euphoria and The White Lotus actress plays young American nun, Sister Cecilia, who enrolls in a convent in rural Italy. While she struggles to understand what seems off about the establishment, she suddenly finds herself pregnant.
“I saw this movie in my head and I really wanted to make it for a really, really long time and I think that I trusted and believed in myself to surround myself with the right team that would help me learn how to do the job to the best of my ability,” Ms. Sweeney told Reuters.
“I had a voice and I was a part of all the creative decisions and the process and the business and I loved it so much,” she added of producing the movie.
The 26-year-old said she transformed into character as soon as she put on her costume.
“Whenever I put Cecilia’s habit on or her outfits, I always felt like I walked a little different, held myself a little different, my shoulders are back, my hands are held differently,” she said.
Sweeney is in nearly every frame of the film and endures a lot, from being covered in blood and getting slapped to being submerged in a bath by a vengeful nun.
“It was all so fun to me … I truly felt like I was (in) my own playground playing and getting to dream up this crazy world and there were no limits or boundaries. It was a blast,” she said, adding she was keen to produce more films.
“I hope in the next five years I get to continue to find characters and stories that challenge me in new ways.” — Reuters
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CEBU’s office space vacancy rate is forecasted to persist at elevated levels this year, property consultancy firm Colliers Philippines said.
“Despite a strong net take-up, vacancies remain elevated due to new supply which is expected to persist in 2024,” Colliers said in its 2024 annual report.
The property consultancy firm projects vacancy to reach 21.3% from 20% in 2023 due to the expected delivery of 107,900 square meters (sq.m.) of new office space.
This is an improvement from the 27% vacancy rate in 2022.
“Colliers Philippines observed that outside of Metro Manila, Cebu remained the top choice for outsourcing firms and multinational companies,” Colliers said.
It projects net take-up to rise 9.42% to 72,000 sq.m. Cebu recorded the highest provincial office space take-up with 65,800 sq.m. in 2023.
However, these are all lower than the net absorption of 109,200 sq.m. in 2022.
“We expect greater absorption of office space from third-party outsourcing and shared services firms looking to set up and expand their operations,” the report said.
In 2023, Cebu accounted for 54% to 112,900 sq.m. of deals outside Metro Manila, the highest office deals outside the Philippine capital.
This was buoyed by the business process outsourcing firms, covering nearly 75% of total deals.
Concentrix, OfficePartners 360, Avant, TOA Global, and Optum, mostly situated in Cebu IT Park, were attributed to the mentioned deals.
Colliers said it also recorded 60,200 sq.m. of new office space in Cebu due to the completion of Faustina Center in CBP Fringe, Johndorf Tower in Cebu Business Park, and Skyrise 3B in Cebu IT Park.
The developments in the province’s pipeline are Filinvest Cyberzone Tower 3 in IT Park, Astra Corporate Center, Excelsior Corporate Tower in Banawa Cebu, Filinvest Cyberzone Tower 3, Grand Tower Cebu Condo Office, Il Corso, Mahi Center, Patria de Cebu, and Northwing Tower 1.
Colliers sees a marginal rise in rent and expects it to be “flattish” due to the completion of new offices built before the pandemic but only launched now.
The average rent in Metro Cebu rose 0.4% to P651 per sq.m. in 2023.
“Colliers believes that shared services, healthcare companies, and other multinational firms are likely to occupy more office spaces in this location,” it said.
The firm said despite the positive performance of the province, rationalization of office real estate is still happening.
Colliers still expects a tenant-leaning market for the province, and tenants should seize the opportunity to access better quality office buildings, a skilled labor pool, and improved infrastructure.
Recently, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported Cebu as the sixth richest city in the country outside Metro Manila in 2022, with a per capita gross domestic product of P293,426. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante
Manila’s logistics rental growth was the fastest across 17 cities in the region for the second half of 2023, according to Knight Frank’s Asia-Pacific H2 Logistics Highlights. The country’s warehouse space rental grew by 39.3% year on year to P383 per square meter per month, more than six times higher than the Asia-Pacific average growth rate of 6.2%.
