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Cebu Pacific operator’s net loss widens to P8.2 billion

CEBU AIR, Inc., the listed operator of budget carrier Cebu Pacific, saw its attributable net loss widen to P8.2 billion in the third quarter from a loss of P5.54 billion in the same period a year ago, mainly due to the impact of the global health crisis on its operations.

In its quarterly report released on Tuesday, the listed company said its total revenues for the period climbed 62% to P3.24 billion last quarter from P2 billion in the same period in 2020.

Passenger revenue rose to P1.31 billion in the third quarter from P379.19 million in the same period last year.

Cargo revenue for the quarter went up 9% to P1.45 billion from P1.33 billion previously, while ancillary revenue increased 63.4% to P484.10 million from P296.28 million in the comparable year-ago period.

However, expenses reached P9.4 billion, up 7.6% from P8.74 billion last year, resulting in an operating loss of P6.15 billion from P6.74 billion previously.

Attributable net loss for the first nine months widened to P21.99 billion from a loss of P14.69 billion in the same period last year.

The company’s January-to-September total revenues dropped 52.7% to P9.15 billion from P19.34 billion in the same period in 2020. Operating loss reached P18.84. billion from P13.72 billion last year.

As of Sept. 30, Cebu Air said its consolidated assets decreased to P128.40 billion from P128.46 billion as of Dec. 31 last year, mainly due to asset depreciation recognized during the period, which was offset by an increase in cash from the receipt of proceeds from the issuance of convertible preferred shares and convertible bonds.

“Equity decreased to P13.21 billion from P22.69 billion last year due to net losses incurred offset by the aforementioned issuance of preferred shares,” the firm noted.

The company expects that the global health crisis would have a material impact on its liquidity. However, it is “confident on its ability” to raise cash for liquidity needs even if there were unprecedented losses incurred as a result of an expected slow recovery from the crisis.

“The group remains in a strong balance sheet and equity position at the end of the period,” Cebu Air said.

At the same time, the company believes Cebu Pacific remains a “resilient airline” despite the adverse impact of the health crisis on its operations.

“The group is actively engaged in planning and executing various measures to mitigate the impact of the… pandemic on its business operations. These include negotiations with key suppliers on capital expenditure commitments and related cash flows, as well as with other suppliers and stakeholders as they impact the group’s cash flows,” the company said.

Cebu Air shares closed 2.79% higher at P49.75 apiece on Tuesday. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Painting while waiting for the journey home

LEIZEL DATOR paintings entitled Gawahon

 

A GRAPHIC artist sought relief from lockdown stress by turning to paints and palette knives while waiting for a chance to finally go home. The result? A hometown exhibit filled with a riot of colors.

After 14 years of working in Singapore, Leizel Lacsao-Dator was finally going to Bacolod City in March 2020, having decided to settle in her hometown for good. However, COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) struck and the world went into lockdown. She had to suspend her plans to come home for a year. Like most artists who had time on their hands while on lockdown, she turned to her canvases, paints, and palette knives.

Originally from Victoria City, Negros Occidental, she moved to Manila at the age of 16 to study and earned her bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts at the Far Eastern University (FEU) in 1999. She then pursued a career as a graphic artist, working for various companies in the capital, including BusinessWorld from 2004 to 2007. Spreading her wings, she moved to Singapore in 2007 and pursued a career as a senior graphic designer for an exhibition company. Her works were featured as part of the “PrintPack+Sign” 2019 exhibition at the Marina Bay Sands.

It was in Singapore that Ms. Lacsao-Dator revisited painting during her free time, first with watercolor and then transitioning to the use of palette knives in 2018.

“Using a palette knife is more challenging because it takes a lot of control and grip, especially if the subject is landscape with structures. Despite the difficulty, I pursued using it because of its texture that gives character to my pieces. Another reason is its uniqueness, and I was able to develop my signature style,” Ms. Lacsao-Dator told BusinessWorld through Messenger.

In 2019, she contacted The Good Art Gallery in Quezon City to show her paintings.

“I reached out to The Good Art Gallery through a private message. I showed my works to them. After checking the details, they posted my work on their social media platform. The first one sold right away,” Ms. Lacsao-Dator said. “Since then, I was able to gain patrons in Metro Manila through this gallery.”

When lockdown rules were finally relaxed, Ms. Lacsao-Dator returned to the Philippines in March this year. She did not waste any time looking for a place to show her work. Upon arrival in Bacolod, Ms. Lacsao-Dator visited that city’s Art District, a creative block of restaurants, bars, and art galleries including the Orange Project building.

“[In] July this year, I went to The Art District looking for a gallery that can help me showcase my works,” she said.  “I went to Orange Project Gallery, and it just so happen that [visual artist and gallery’s co-founder] Charlie Co was there. I spoke to him for a while about my art pieces and showed him my coffee table book.

“[Mr. Co] asked me about the process of my works. I did mention to him my medium and the inspiration for it. He then introduced me to Mrs. Leah Divino-Samson, the President of the Art Association of Bacolod-Negros (AAB-N). After discussing my pieces with Mrs. Leah Divino-Samson, I decided to hold my first solo exhibit at AAB Gallery+Cafe.

“[The Good Art Gallery was] very supportive with my decision to do my first solo exhibition here [in Negros].”

“Art by LD” will open at the AAB Gallery + Café at the Art District in Bacolod City on Nov. 16. To be launched alongside the physical exhibit is her online platform, http://artbyld.com/.

The exhibit features 31 pieces ranging from Negros scenes, florals still lifes, landscapes, and seascapes. The Negros sites featured in her work include The Ruins, the Chapel of Cartwheels, and Punta Ballo beach. She also has scenes from Okinawa, Singapore, and Taiwan which were inspired by her travels.

“When I paint local sceneries, it’s nostalgic because it is part of my childhood,” she said. “For my florals, it’s all imagination,” she said. “When I do the florals, I don’t sketch. The image just flows.”

“Graphic design is work, but painting helps calm me down,” she said.

“Art by LD” will run until Dec. 7 at the AAB Gallery + Café at the Art District, Barangay Mandalagan, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental. Safety and health protocols to be observed. The artworks can also be viewed at http://artbyld.com/. For more information, and commission inquiries, visit the artist’s Instagram page at (@art_byld). — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

LBC Express to get up to P2B in fresh funding

BW FILE PHOTO

LISTED LBC Express Holdings, Inc. announced on Tuesday that it is injecting an additional investment of up to P2 billion in its wholly-owned subsidiary, LBC Express, Inc., to refinance the latter’s maturing obligations and working capital requirements.

In a stock exchange filing, LBC Express Holdings said its board approved on Monday the additional investment by the company in its subsidiary.

“The terms of such additional investment, such as the number of shares to be issued by LBC Express, the issue price of such shares, and other terms and conditions, have not been finalized as of date,” LBC Express Holdings said.

The board delegated the authority to finalize the terms of the investment to the management of the company.

The working capital requirements of LBC Express, a courier and freight forwarding services provider, include payment of taxes and related costs and expenses, the company said.

“Such additional investment is expected to contribute to the continuous business operations of LBC Express,” it noted.

LBC Express is also a nonbank provider of domestic and inbound international remittance services in the Philippines.

LBC Express Holdings previously reported an attributable net income of P310.56 million for the first six months of the year, turning around from a loss of P501.73 million in the same period a year ago.

Revenues for the period went up 49.1% to P8.41 billion from P5.64 billion previously. Revenue improvement was mainly from the company’s logistics segment with overall growth of 52%.

“The increase in logistics revenue, both in domestic and overseas market, is driven by the improvement in sales performance of existing branches after the worldwide quarantine last year,” LBC Express Holdings said in a statement.

LBC Express Holdings closed unchanged at P20 apiece on Tuesday. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Dev’t of local diagnostics slowed by supply chain woes, regulations 

PIXABAY

By Patricia B. Mirasol 

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has exposed the limitations of relying on a few global manufacturers for medical diagnostic exams, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). 

In a recent webinar organized by the medical humanitarian organization, panelists confirmed that pre-pandemic efforts to create local networks and manufacturing capacities need to be realized.  

“The reason why we’re developing local diagnostics is so we can bring them to the places that do need them,” said Ricardo Jose S. Guerrero, research fellow at Ateneo Research Institute for Science and Engineering, and engineering lead at Bayan Biomedical Research Group. “We need local production to increase our healthcare resilience.”   

Several projects under the Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development are working toward this aim.  

Among them are the microPCR (miPCR) device, a more affordable alternative to commercial qPCR (quantitative polymerase chain reaction) instruments, which paves the way for more testing laboratories; and the SWIFTeR molecular test, which seeks to remove the equipment and training overhead required for reverse transcription (RT)-qPCR testing.   

Meanwhile, the Integrated Protein Research and Development Center, a facility that aims to open next year, will develop the technology required for the production of proteins used by the biomedical, agricultural, and food industries.   

The proteins that will be produced in this facility, said Mr. Guerrero, make up a large bulk of the costs of COVID-19 kits.  

“The local production of raw and semi-finished materials will reduce the costs of the final end products,” he said, noting that the savings from these could then be passed on to patients.  

‘NO CLEAR PATHWAY’ 
There are three roadblocks to local diagnostics research and production, according to Mr. Guerrero: the procurement process and supply chain; medical device regulations; and intellectual property and interest.   

A piece of equipment his team needed, for instance, took seven months to procure because there were no local suppliers. “If there were, then we could pivot faster, research faster,” he said. “This is something that was exacerbated by the pandemic, but it had always been there.”   

Regulations pose a second challenge, since no implementing rules and regulations exist based on ASEAN’s MDD (medical device directive) for IVD (in-vitro diagnostics) devices. Medical devices are not IVDs, per Mr. Guerrero, and yet most COVID-19 tests and machines for point-of-care are.  

Meanwhile, administrative orders (AO) issued by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — such as AO 2018-002 or Guidelines Governing the Issuance of an Authorization for a Medical Device — assume all medical devices are imported.  

“There is no clear pathway on how devices created inside our universities can get to market,” Mr. Guerrero said. 

 To navigate these challenges, he proposed establishing a scientific supplier directory, and closer coordination between research funders and the FDA.  

“How do we use research, funded by taxpayer money, to actually benefit taxpayers by bringing our technology to the healthcare system?” asked Mr. Guerrero. “This entails easier access to regulatory and certification expertise for academic researchers, because academic researchers … are not necessarily entrepreneurial nor good at supply chain and logistics.”  

Repertory Philippines serves a Christmas cookie musical

CLASSIC chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies with Christmas-themed icing, red velvet crinkles, and jam-filled cookies will fill households’ screens as Repertory Philippines returns with its first REP Theatre for Young Audiences (RTYA) production this holiday season. The Great Christmas Cookie Bake Off! musical will stream exclusively on Broadway On Demand on Nov. 12 to Dec. 12.

Prior to the lockdown last year, Rep was in the middle of its 2020 Season and still had Carousel and Snow White and the Prince in the lineup of shows. When theater company started planning for a comeback show, Artistic Director Liesl Batucan said that the team decided to save those shows for when live performances are allowed.

“[RTYA Creative Director Joy Virata] wanted to save that for live when all the kids could come back, and she decided to do something fresh and innovative and something that would put us on a global platform with Broadway On Demand,” Ms. Batucan said during an online press conference on Nov. 4.

Ms. Virata learned about the musical while exploring theatrical productions available online over the past year.  She found the original musical on Broadway On Demand.

“I’m so absolutely non-techie,” Ms. Virata admitted. “But I learned about streaming… So, I did go online, and I found The Great Christmas Cookie Bake Off.”

“I liked it because the music was so great. And it was funny. It was about Christmas cooking and baking, and then all these nice feelings. So, I thought that would be just right. So, I shot it over to Mindy and Leisl who approved it.”

Rep President and CEO Mindy Perez-Rubio and Ms. Batucan then got in touch with the international streaming platform about the possibility of a partnership.

“This production has Rep becoming the first Philippine theater company to field a show for streaming on an international platform. We hope that this heralds the strong and solid comeback of Rep and theater in the country,” Ms. Perez-Rubio said.

THE COMPETITION AND COOKIE CHEFS
The Great Christmas Cookie Bake Off! follows eight young cookie chefs who have been selected from all over the country to compete at the Cookie Coliseum. The competition brings out intense rivalry and the play’s themes tackle family, charity, and forgiveness.

“I wrote the show just about a year ago when I felt like we needed a little bit of joy in our lives,” Broadway musical director Rick Hip-Flores said in a video. “I figured that the combination of Christmas and cookies and baking competitions and musical theater would be the perfect recipe for a truly joyful theatrical experience.”

The Rep production stars Becca Coates as Patty Mañosa, a sensitive soul who longs for her Grandma’s cookies; Tim Pavino as Javi Carreon, a video game buff who feels out of place in the kitchen; Jep Go as Gabe Gomez, a bully who is more than happy to bend the rules; Jillian Ita-as as the overachiever Anna Santos; Luigi Quesada plays culinary artiste Julian Zamora; Justine Narciso is Disney fan Amy Garcia; Steven Hotchkiss is science enthusiast Josh Bernardo; and Rachel Coates is social media fanatic Samantha Lopez.

Joining the cast are REP are Carla Guevara-Laforteza who is playing three roles in the show — the stylish Isabel Guevara; Anna’s helicopter mom; and Patty’s loving Grandma. Arnel Carrion has double roles as food industry mean guy Michael Holmes, and as Gabe’s dad, a bigwig TV executive who pushes his son to win at all cost. Jaime Wilson plays pop singer and celebrity guest judge Del Ray who has never baked; while Hans Eckstein completes the cast as Larry, the faithful host and announcer of the competition.

COOKING IT UP WITH TRIALS
The cast rehearsed via Zoom prior to a four-day shoot of the musical.

“All I can see were their faces,” Ms. Virata, who directed the play, said on the challenge of rehearsals over Zoom. “I had to imagine the blocking. The set made by Ed Lacson, I had in front of me, and I just imagined where they should go. I called it script blocking.

“The other thing that was difficult was the cooking. You can’t rehearse cooking with the ingredients and different baking utensils. They don’t really do it. but they had to look real,” she added.

Actor Tim Pavino, expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to return to performing after nearly two years.

“We were just standing or sitting or laying down on the stage, and we were just absorbing this space, even without an audience. We were just realizing how blessed we were and still are as performers,” said Mr. Pavino, whose most recent production with Rep was in the lead role of the musical Miong.

“We are thankful to Rep for giving us the opportunity to give our gifts back to the audiences that are waiting for this spiritual awakening in theater,” he added.

In the production team are set designer Ed Lacson, lighting designer John Batalla, costume designer Bonsai Cielo, and choreographer Deana Aquino. Multi-awarded director Treb Monteras leads the video production which was managed by Silver Media.

CONTINUING ARTS APPRECIATION FOR THE YOUNG
Despite not having a live audience of children, the mission of inculcating and instilling love for arts in children continues.

“Unfortunately, because of the situation, we cannot be doing busloads of kids like we used to at Onstage (Theater). However, we do have our network of sellers that are even now reaching out to their school contacts to watch us from the safety of their homes,” Ms. Batucan said.

“Safety protocols added to our cost but priority is safety. Theater is also, aside from being a creative endeavor, it’s also a business endeavor. So, we have to balance a lot of these,” she added.  — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

 

The Great Christmas Cookie Bake Off! runs from Nov. 12 to Dec. 12 on Broadway On Demand. Ticket prices are P700 (24-hour access) and P1,000 (48-hour access). Broadway On Demand can be accessed via computer or mobile device through a web browser (Google Chrome is recommended for optimal streaming) or via tablet or smartphone through the Broadway On Demand app on the App Store and Google Play. It is also available on AppleTV and Roku. Book tickets through Broadway On Demand, TicketWorld, or Ticket2Me, or via the REP Box Office by calling 0966-905-4013. For updates, visit www.repertoryphilippines.ph. Educators and school representatives who are interested in the show can e-mail sales@repphil.org.

Petron books P4.99-billion profit in Jan.-Sept. as revenues improve

PETRON.COM

PETRON CORP. booked a P4.99-billion consolidated net income in the first nine months of the year, recovering from its P12.6-billion net loss in the same period in 2020 as its sales improved and as it reduced its costs.

“Efforts to reduce costs and yield more savings contributed to Petron’s continued financial recovery,” the company said in a disclosure to the stock exchange on Tuesday.

Petron said its performance improved as “its volume and revenues remained on the uptrend in the second and third quarters of the year despite the reimposition of mobility restrictions.”

“Despite external challenges, sustaining the financial resilience of the company has helped ensure that we have the means and the capacity to continue growing the business while providing our investors with the best returns. These include strategic investments in our service station expansion, refinery enhancements, and supply chain management. We are looking forward to ending 2021 in a much stronger and stable position than last year,” Petron President and Chief Executive Officer Ramon S. Ang said.

The company said its consolidated sales of 59.2 million barrels of oil from January to September was close to last year’s level of 59.5 million barrels.

Its sales of lubricants also grew by 28% for the third quarter, while its retail station volume increased by 9% and its petrochemical exports grew by 68% compared to last year.

Petron’s consolidated revenues from its operations in the Philippines and in Malaysia also rose by 35% to P291.57 billion from P216.43 billion last year as the global prices of oil continue to spike with Dubai’s crude oil breaching $75 per barrel.

In October, Petron listed P18 billion in fixed-rate bonds on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. Proceeds from the issuance will be used to refinance the company’s debts and to fund the construction of its new power plant in Bataan, which is expected to be operational starting next year.

Petron shares inched down 1.57% or six centavos to finish at P3.77 apiece on Tuesday. — B.A.D. Añago

COVID-19 pills are coming, but no substitute for vaccines, disease experts say

REUTERS

CHICAGO — Oral antiviral pills from Merck & Co. and Pfizer, Inc./BioNTech SE have been shown to significantly blunt the worst outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) if taken early enough, but doctors warn vaccine hesitant people not to confuse the benefit of the treatments with prevention afforded by vaccines.  

While 72% of American adults have gotten a first shot of the vaccine, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, the pace of vaccination has slowed, as political partisanship in the United States divides views on the value and safety of vaccines against the coronavirus.  

Vaccine mandates by employers, states and the administration of US President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., have helped increase vaccinations but also fueled that controversy.  

Some disease experts fear the arrival of oral COVID-19 treatments may further impede vaccination campaigns. Preliminary results of a survey of 3,000 US citizens by the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Public Health suggest the drugs could “hamper the effort to get people vaccinated,” said Scott Ratzan, an expert in health communication at CUNY, who led the research.  

Mr. Ratzan said one out of every eight of those surveyed said they would rather get treated with a pill than be vaccinated. “That is a high number,” Mr. Ratzan said.  

The concern follows news on Friday from Pfizer, maker of a leading COVID-19 vaccine, that its experimental antiviral pill Paxlovid cut the risk of hospitalization and death from the disease by 89% in high-risk adults.  

Pfizer’s results followed news from Merck and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics on Oct. 1 that their oral antiviral drug cut hospitalization and death by half. That drug, known as molnupiravir, won conditional approval in the UK on Thursday. Both need clearance from US health regulators but could be on the market in December.  

“By relying exclusively on an antiviral drug, it’s a bit of a roll of the dice in terms of how you will do. Clearly, it’s going to be better than nothing, but it’s a high-stakes game to play,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert and professor of molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine.  

Six infectious disease experts interviewed by Reuters were equally enthusiastic about the prospect of effective new treatments for COVID-19 and agreed they were no substitute for vaccines.  

Even in the face of the highly transmissible Delta variant of the virus, the vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech remain effective, cutting the risk of hospitalization by a combined 86.8%, according to a government study of US veterans.  

They said some unvaccinated people have already relied on monoclonal antibodies — drugs that need to be delivered through intravenous IV infusions or injections — as a backstop in case they become infected.  

“I think the Pfizer news is terrific news. It goes hand in hand with vaccination. It doesn’t replace it,” said Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University and Baltimore’s former health commissioner.  

Choosing not to get vaccinated “would be a tragic mistake,” said Albert Bourla, chief executive officer of Pfizer, Inc. “These are treatments. This is for the unfortunate who will get sick,” Mr. Bourla told Reuters in an interview on Friday. “This should not be a reason not to protect yourself and to put yourself, your household and society in danger.”  

ANTIVIRAL CHALLENGES 
One main reason not to rely on the new pills, the experts said, is that antiviral medications, which stop the virus from replicating in the body, must be given in a narrow window early in the disease because COVID-19 has different phases.  

In the first phase, the virus rapidly replicates in the body. A lot of the worst effects of COVID-19, however, occur in the second phase, arising from a defective immune response that gets triggered by the replicating virus, said Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease expert and the CEO and founder of Just Human Productions, a non-profit multimedia organization.  

“Once you develop shortness of breath or other symptoms that would lead you to be hospitalized, you are in that dysfunctional immune phase where the antivirals are really not going to provide much benefit,” she said.  

Dr. Hotez agreed. He said getting treated early enough could be challenging because the window when the virus transitions from the replication phase to the inflammatory phase is fluid.  

“For some people, that will happen earlier; for some, later,” Dr. Hotez said.  

Dr. Hotez said many people in the early phase of the illness feel surprisingly well and may be unaware that their oxygen levels are dropping, one of the first signs that the inflammatory phase of the disease has started.  

“Oftentimes, you’re not going to realize that you’re getting sick until it’s too late,” he said. — Reuters

New York’s November auctions mark a return to billionaire-level art prices

CHRISTIE’s has given an estimate of between $40 million and $80 million for this Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, The Guilt of Gold Teeth, which will go under the hammer on Nov. 9 at its 21st century auction. — CHRISTIES.COM

DURING the height of the COVID pandemic, big-ticket art transactions were mostly conducted in private.

Behind closed doors, Sotheby’s reportedly sold a Giacometti bronze for more than $90 million, while Christie’s is said to have sold a Frida Kahlo painting for more than $130 million.

Billionaires, it seemed, were more comfortable buying and selling in private.

“The volume of private transactions for works priced between $5 million and $50 million increased between 2019 and 2020, from 30 to 50,” says Brooke Lampley, chairman and worldwide head of global fine art at Sotheby’s. “The supply of masterworks during the pandemic was somewhat constrained at the public level, but the buyer appetite remained very strong.”

That’s set to change during this November’s marquee evening sales in New York. A booming art market, along with several major public sales results, has reassured superrich consignors that their spectacularly expensive artworks are ready for the klieg lights of a live auction.

Christie’s will kick things off on Nov. 9 with its 21st century auction, which includes a Basquiat from 1982 with a high estimate of $80 million and a painting by Peter Doig valued in excess of $35 million.

Two days later it will follow up with the sale of the late oil baron Edwin Cox’s collection, which includes a Caillebotte estimated in the region of $50 million, a van Gogh in the region of $40 million (the sale has three van Goghs in total), and a Cézanne that has a high estimate of $55 million.

Right after that, the auction house’s 20th century sale will include a whopping nine lots with a high estimate of $15 million or above, including a painting by Cy Twombly estimated to sell in the region of $30 million. The combined low estimate for both nights’ evening sales at Christies is $650 million.

“We came into this season very confident, because we’re seeing such strong demand across the board for art at every level,” says Sara Friedlander, the deputy chairman of the postwar and contemporary art department at Christie’s in New York. “I do think people are more confident putting things up at auction publicly.”

A $600 MILLION ART COLLECTION
Sotheby’s, meanwhile, will hold its sales a week later, starting with the hotly anticipated collection of Harry and Linda Macklowe, the octogenarians whose divorce shook loose a collection estimated to sell for at least $600 million.

On Nov. 15, Sotheby’s will auction 35 of these artworks (more will be sold in the spring), which together carry an estimate exceeding $400 million.

A sculpture belonging to the Macklowes by Alberto Giacometti and a painting by Mark Rothko both carry high estimates of $90 million a piece; a Warhol silkscreen and a Twombly painting both carry high estimates of $60 million. The Macklowe sale has 13 lots with high estimates of $15 million or more.

Lots are still being released for Sotheby’s modern evening auction, which will take place the evening of Nov. 16; already though, a rare Frida Kahlo has been announced with a high estimate of $50 million.

Even the much smaller Phillips, whose evening sale will take place on Nov. 17, announced that it would be selling a painting by Francis Bacon that carries a high estimate of $45 million.

“The market of people willing to buy and invest in art is stronger than ever and would appear to be growing,” Ms. Lampley says. “And where there are buyers, generally there are sellers.”

CHINESE BUYERS
During the pandemic, buyers from Hong Kong and mainland China emerged as a potent market force.

Despite, or perhaps because of, the country’s wobbling real estate industry and sporadic but increasing crackdowns on its superrich, China’s art market is still on a tear.

“Before the pandemic, there were maybe five to 10 collectors [in China] at the very, very top of the market who knew what they were doing, knew what they were looking for, and were able to support those high-end works of art,” Ms. Friedlander says of collectors willing and able to purchase $20 million-plus modern and contemporary artworks.

“What we’ve seen across the board is a completely new community of collectors who love buying at auction at that level,” she continues. Demand in China “is like nothing we’ve ever seen before.”

ADRENALINE JUNKIES
The looming question is how — or if — a packed, in-person salesroom will affect bidding.

The November sales won’t be the first live auctions since COVID struck — the London auctions earlier this fall had spectators, as did Sotheby’s recent Picasso sale in Las Vegas — but this will be the first time a massive evening sale will have a live auctioneer in front of a live audience. (The auctions will also be livestreamed.)

“It impacts the mood,” says Ms. Lampley. “Having people bidding and participating in the sale room brings an energy that conveys confidence and optimism in the market.”

It doesn’t, she continues, “necessarily mean there’s more bidding, but the optics — when it’s distributed in different ways, complementing bidders on the phone as well as online — contributes to a particular kind of drama.”

Ms. Friedlander has a slightly different take.

“I think people get more carried away online than they do in the room,” she says. “There’s an adrenaline junky thing where you’re bidding online and clicking away. In the room, the anxiety of raising your hand is a different kind of feeling.”

Regardless, at least from a dollar perspective, the auctions are beginning to look more like the pre-COVID era. So, will November mark a return to a billion-dollar sales week?

“I wouldn’t be inclined to put the cart before the horse,” Ms. Lampley says. “Every season is still a brick-by-brick process from start to finish.” — Bloomberg

Cirtek amends 70M preferred shares offering

CIRTEK HOLDINGS Philippines Corp. has amended its 70 million preferred class B-2 shares offer by issuing subseries “C” and “B” shares for both the base offer and the oversubscription option, the company said in a disclosure on Tuesday. 

The primary offer, which covers up to 50 million shares, was originally comprised of only subseries “C” shares. Meanwhile, the oversubscription option of up to 20 million shares was previously composed of just subseries “D” shares.

“The total gross proceeds to be raised by the Corporation from the primary offering of Preferred B-2 Shares, to be issued as either Subseries “C” and/or “D,” from the offer price of P50 per preferred B-2 share will be approximately P2,456.6 million,” Cirtek said.

“Assuming that all the oversubscription option are fully exercised at an exercise price of P50 per preferred share will be approximately P3,438.6 million,” it added.

According to its preliminary prospectus dated Oct. 21, the company plans to use its net proceeds to refinance its existing debt, partial repayment of its maturing preferred class B2-A shares, capital expenditures or for equipment, and to fund the working capital of its subsidiaries.

It is targeting to hold its offer period from Nov. 25 to Dec. 3, while its tentative issue and listing date is slated for Dec. 10.

Upon listing, preferred class B-2 subseries C shares will trade under ticker symbol “TCB2C,” while its preferred class B-2 subseries D shares will trade with “TCB2D.”

The company assigned PNB Capital and Investment Corp. as the sole issue manager, lead underwriter, and sole bookrunner for the offer.

Cirtek shares went up by five centavos or 1.16% to close at P4.36 apiece on Tuesday. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte

Gov’t fully awards 10-year bonds at higher rate

BW FILE PHOTO

THE GOVERNMENT made a full award of the reissued Treasury bonds (T-bonds) it offered on Tuesday even as the tenor’s yield went up on inflation and rate hike fears due to the stronger-than-expected economic growth seen in the third quarter.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P35 billion as planned via the reissued 10-year T-bonds it offered on Tuesday. The papers have a remaining life of nine years and eight months.

Tuesday’s offer of government debt attracted P55.37 billion in tenders, lower than the P73.59 billion in bids seen when the bond series were last auctioned off on Sept. 28.

The average yield on the 10-year bonds jumped by 44.1 basis points to 5.13% on Tuesday from the 4.689% fetched during the previous offering.

This was also higher than the 4.96% quoted at the secondary market prior to the auction, based on the PHL Bloomberg Valuation Reference Rates published on the Philippine Dealing System’s website.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said in a Viber message to reporters after the auction that the market remains concerned over inflation as it is still higher than the central bank’s target despite the recent deceleration.

She added that there is some speculation that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) may start raising rates following the economy’s strong performance in the third quarter.

Headline inflation settled at 4.6% in October, slower than the 4.9% median estimate of 21 analysts in a BusinessWorld poll last week.

The October figure was slower than the 4.8% in September, but faster than 2.5% a year earlier. Still, this was the third straight month inflation exceeded the 2-4% target of the central bank for the year. Inflation has topped the BSP target this year except in July.

This brought headline inflation for the first 10 months to 4.5%, faster than the 4.4% forecast by the central bank for the year.

Meanwhile, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.1% in the third quarter, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported on Tuesday, better than the 4.7% median estimate seen in a BusinessWorld poll but slower than the 12% growth in the second quarter.

GDP growth in the first three quarters averaged 4.9%, near the upper end of the government’s 4-5% target.

BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno has said the central bank will keep borrowing costs low to support the economy’s recovery.

Last month, he said raising benchmark rates “too early” could harm the country’s rebound and noted there would be no policy adjustments until the end of the year.

“Since [third-quarter GDP was] higher than market expectation, it’s negative for the bond market because fast growth is inflationary. That’s why there was an upward bias in the [10-year bond’s] yield,” a bond trader said in a phone interview.

A second trader said in a Viber message that the reissued 10-year notes fetched a higher yield on Tuesday as investors are asking for higher returns for bonds that are at the long end of the curve.

“This may be due to higher GDP growth and the loosening of pandemic restrictions,” the trader added.

The Treasury plans to raise P200 billion from the domestic market in November: P60 billion via weekly T-bill auctions and P140 billion from weekly offers of T-bonds.

The government wants to borrow P3 trillion from local and external sources this year to help fund a budget deficit seen to hit 9.3% of gross domestic product. — Jenina P. Ibañez

Study on antibiotic properties of PHL fungi receives grant 

Screenshot via Researchgate.net

IN THE Philippines, fungi are an unexplored source of therapeutic drugs. The antibiotic properties of hypoxylon, a round and blotchy type of fungus found in rotting or decomposing wood, is the subject of a study that recently won a grant from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AVHF) in Germany. 

“The spectrum of projects being done by most Filipino researchers is mostly plant-based because our traditional medicine is based on ethnomedicinal plants,” said University of Santo Tomas (UST) professor Allan Patrick G. Macabeo, whose research project “Drug discovery of biologically active natural products from Philippine Hypoxylon Species” is being funded by a Digital Cooperation Fellowship grant from the AVHF.  

“Most don’t realize that some commercial drugs are also sourced from fungi,” said Mr. Macabeo. 

The AVHF started providing a monthly fund of €3,000 for Mr. Macabeo’s hypoxylon study in September, and will support it through January 2022. Professor Marc Stadler of the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Germany stands as virtual host collaborator.  

Continuous antibiotic discovery is essential in this day and age, according Mr. Macabeo. 

 “The reason we do these types of projects is the increasing incidence of drug resistance. Pathogens or microbes get used to common antibiotics over time,” he said in an interview with BusinessWorld. “[As] their defense, they set up a system of mechanisms to fight antibiotics. If you have a library of antibiotics that you can fire at these microbes, they’ll have a hard time stepping up resistance.”  

Potential applications of the compounds studied by Mr. Macabeo are for combating drug-resistant strains of microbes and pathogens. These include Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes tuberculosis, and Escherichia coli, which causes bacterial infections.   

“With its success, I hope I get to become one of the examples that will inspire younger generations to venture into this important research,” added Mr. Macabeo.  

UNTAPPED POTENTIAL
In addition to antibiotics, fungi might be a source of statins, which regulate blood pressure and treat cardiovascular diseases and cancer.  

Mr. Macabeo is done collecting and identifying fungal samples, with many of the fungi used in the study coming from his home region of Ilocos. He and his colleagues are now analyzing the antibiotic compounds.  

“Drug discovery is a very long process. It takes many years,” Mr. Macabeo said. “Once we find a very potent compound or antibiotic, it still has to undergo pre-clinical trials and clinical trials. Our part only involves primary screening — whether the compounds inhibit microbes.”  

Aside from dealing with pandemic lockdowns delaying non-coronavirus-related research, Filipino scientists have to find continuous, consistent funding to see the entire drug development process through, according to Mr. Macabeo.  

He cited the Department of Science and Technology (DoST), which has initiatives like the Science for Change Program (S4CP), which aims to accelerate science and technology information in the country and keep up with the world in terms of R&D.  

“The DoST is going in a very good direction. Although budget allocation when it comes to research in the Philippines is still low compared to other Southeast Asian countries, I hope it will increase,” said Mr. Macabeo. “I hope they invest more because we’re still in the infancy of government support (for R&D). I hope they continue these efforts.”  

Production of Disney’s upcoming Star Wars movie delayed

LOS ANGELES — Production of Walt Disney Co.’s next Star Wars movie has been delayed because director Patty Jenkins is juggling other projects, a source close to the production said on Monday.

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is still currently scheduled to reach theaters in Dec. 2023, the source said, but it is possible that date could change.

Ms. Jenkins, who directed two Wonder Woman movies for Warner Bros., is working on a third movie about the superhero as well as a film about Egyptian queen Cleopatra.

Rogue Squadron filmmakers had hoped to complete production in 2022 but realized it would not be possible to meet that timeline due to Ms. Jenkins’ schedule, the source said. Production has been removed from the 2022 calendar.

The news was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

Representatives for Jenkins did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Disney has other Star Wars movies in the works, including one being developed by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige.

The company also plans to release several Star Wars TV series on the Disney+ streaming service. Among them, The Book of Boba Fett will debut in December and Obi-Wan Kenobi is expected next year. — Reuters

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