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BoI pledges more than double as of September

THE BOARD of Investments (BoI) more than doubled its approved investments to P764.7 billion in the nine months to September from a year ago, the agency said in a press release on Thursday.

“The sustained high growth of investments is proof of the business sector’s strong confidence in both the Philippines’ economic fundamentals, as further shown by the acceleration of the third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 6.2% and the reform agenda of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte,” the agency quoted its chairman, Trade Secretary and BoI Chairman Ramon M. Lopez, as saying.

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Foreign investments made up 31.4% of total investments committed through the BoI, up from eight percent a year earlier. Foreign investments surged sevenfold to P239.9 billion from P33.6 billion a year earlier, while domestic investments increased 54.7% to P524.9 billion from P339.3 billion.

Among foreign investors, Singapore remained the top source with P170 billion. South Korea came second with P34.1 billion, followed by Thailand (P8.6 billion), Japan (P6 billion) and the United States (P2.4 billion).

Mr. Lopez said that the growth in foreign investment share is expected to continue as the Philippines steps up economic cooperation with non-traditional partners.

Investments outside Metro Manila, or the National Capital Region (NCR), accounted for 98.2% of the total with P750.9 billion, with CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) topping regions with P354 billion. Central Luzon was the runner up at P42.4 billion, followed by NCR (P13.8 billion), Central Visayas (P10.1 billion) and Cagayan Valley (P10.05 billion).

The information and communications technology (ICT) and power sectors were the biggest recipients of investment pledges, posting a combined P652.9 billion that accounted for 85% of the total value.

“This massive infrastructure buildup for more power and connectivity across the archipelago is critical towards addressing binding constraints to the Philippines’ competitiveness,” Trade Undersecretary and BoI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo said in the same statement.

Investments in manufacturing grew 190% to P63.5 billion from P21.9 billion last year.

The tourism sector recorded P9.5 billion worth of hotel and accommodation projects, nearly seven times more than the P1.2 billion pledged last year.

“With the innovative advocacy campaigns of the Department of Tourism, the Philippines experience an overwhelming surge of domestic tourists which reached over 110 million in 2018 and already exceeded the 89.2 million target by 2022 as stated in the National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP),” Mr. Rodolfo said.

“So we look forward to the coming years for a tourism boom with the recent announcement of a well-known brand (Marriot) to triple its portfolio by building 21 more hotels and the aggressive expansion of more affordable hotels (like RedDoorz) in the country,” he added.

Notable projects approved by BoI included Orion Pacific Energy Inc.’s P130-billion 1200 megawatt coal-fired power plant in Quezon City, Petron Corp.’s P10.9-billion solid fuel-fired power plant in Bataan, 6 Barracuda Energy Corp.’s P7.6-billion wind power project in Northern Samar, Cebu Air, Inc.’s P1.7-billion operational lease of Airbus A320 NEO plane, Cavite Gateway Terminal Inc.’s P1.35-billion seaport terminal, and Starlite Gallant Ferries, Inc.’s P1.1-billion domestic shipping project. — J. P. Ibañez

Netflix bets on anime to battle Disney, Apple in streaming wars

AS NETFLIX INC. prepares for a bruising battle against the Walt Disney Co. and Apple Inc. for streaming subscribers, it’s playing a card that may deliver enough of an edge to fend them off in Asia: Japanese anime.

Although Netflix has featured animation for years, the leading streaming provider of 158 million users is stepping up its anime efforts as new rivals such as Apple, Disney, and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max roll out their services. All of them have identified animation as a way to lure viewers — from Disney’s historic archive to a recent victory by HBO Max in clinching the coveted US distribution rights for most of Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli films.

Facing such competition, Netflix is extending its strategy of paying for original content to new animated shows such as Ultraman and Eden. It’s also holding out for a chance to feature Ghibli’s content, including the Oscar-winning Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro, in Japan and other countries outside the US. Netflix has also approached the renowned animation studio to secure the up-for-grabs streaming rights for its home country, according to John Derderian, Netflix’s director of Japan & Anime.

“Japan is certainly among the top two creators of stories in the world with Hollywood,” said Derderian, who confirmed that there have been talks with Studio Ghibli, without offering any specifics.

The studio had long resisted offering its films for streaming, favoring theatrical releases and physical media. That’s changing as more viewers choose to access libraries of shows and movies on smartphones, tablets, and computers for a fixed monthly price. Netflix — which has made inroads in Japan, adding millions of subscribers — is betting on Japanimation to both defend its turf in the country, and push deeper into Asia.

In fact, most of Netflix’s anime viewers are outside Japan, according to Derderian. Shows such as Dragon Ball or Attack on Titan continue to attract a global audience. Overseas sales of Japanese animation content has quadrupled to almost $10 billion since 2012, according to Humanmedia Inc., a Tokyo-based research firm.

Even so, Asia remains a mostly untapped market for the major streaming services. It will probably take a few years until HBO Max, Disney Plus and others to get serious about gathering streaming services in the region. Crunchyroll, a San Francisco-based on-demand streaming service for anime fans outside Japan, has about 2 million subscribers.

Demand for Japanese animation is especially high in Southeast Asia, Europe, and Latin Americas, according to Derderian. A spokeswoman for Studio Ghibli declined to comment on business relationships with Netflix, Amazon or other streaming platforms.

“Netflix will have to sustain investment into high-budget, Hollywood-like works and multinational content in order to set itself apart as other players join the market,” said Masahiro Hasegawa, an analyst at HumanMedia.

Netflix’s average spending for top shows has jumped about 30% in the past year, content chief Ted Sarandos said in a post-earnings conference call on Oct. 17. Netflix is raising funds with a $2 billion bond issue, it said last week.

Disney Plus, which launches Nov. 12 for $6.99 a month, will cost about half as much as Netflix and offer a library of movies and TV shows backed by its huge franchises, including The Avengers and Star Wars, to The Simpsons and Toy Story.

“Because Disney has pre-existing media and an established brand, Netflix will have to make sure its viewers retain a lifestyle in which they watch Netflix daily,” Hasegawa said.

To gain an edge, Netflix is bringing its strategy of developing original exclusive shows to anime as well. The film Roma was nominated in 10 Academy Awards, categories and series such as The Crown have won Golden Globe Awards.

Now, Netflix says it is developing a library of exclusive anime shows, clinching long-term partnerships with five of Japan’s notable animation studios.

The result of that partnership is Ultraman, a animated reboot of the classic Japanese show of the silver-suited hero battling giant monsters. The exclusive series was developed with Kenji Kamiyama, the anime director who’s works include a series for Ghost in the Shell, and Shinji Aramaki, another well-known director whose designs were behind the Gundam series.

The two directors said developing shows for Netflix gave them more control over the story and content, such as being able to show gory scenes of monsters being vanquished, which is usually suppressed for on-air shows. “I see distributors such as Netflix as another turning point for the anime industry,” Kamiyama said.

Netflix isn’t the only player invested in Japanese anime to give them an edge. Amazon Prime and Apple’s iTunes also offer some of Japanese anime shows, and Amazon has also released an original anime series, Blades of the Immortal. Disney will have new Star Wars and Marvel animated series available on their service, seeking to attract core fans from the two works.

But Netflix is confident it can ride out the competition. With long-term partnerships with local studios that are slated to bring original series one after another, Netflix is set to have a steady flow of Japanimation under the belt. The company has also gone beyond to dabble in experimenting with new type of animation along with partner Production I.G., announcing that they’re developing the world’s first hand-drawn, 4K HDR animation series.

“We’re going to partner with studios for five years, 10 years, so they can take that money to have certainty of revenue and invest in space and tool and people,” said Derderian. “We’re in an anime boom, but we’re not investing in boom-or-bust cycle.”

The rewards and perils for brands latching on to issues

BRANDS CONNECTING to an issue or a purpose they are passionate about and making it into a marketing campaign is a trend that a Twitter regional executive said exploded in the past two years as more and more users look for authenticity in marketing.

“What we see more and more is that brands are trying to build an identity and a purpose to [their] campaigns,” Arvinder Gujral, Twitter managing director for Southeast Asia, told reporters during a briefing on Nov. 4 at the Sheraton Manila Hotel in Pasay City.

And brands can succeed in combining an issue or conversation with a campaign. For example, there is Nike’s 2018 “Just Do It” campaign featuring former National Football League (NFL) player and social activist Colin Kaepernick where a photo of Mr. Kaepernick with a quote: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything. Just Do It.” The football player had knelt during an NFL game to protest police brutality and Black Lives Matter, a gesture for which he was let go by the league in 2017. The campaign raised Nike’s brand value by $6 billion.

And there are those who don’t succeed. Like Pepsi which ran an ad that same year featuring model and TV personality Kendall Jenner giving a riot policeman a can of Pepsi amidst ongoing protests, positing that a can of Pepsi can unite a divided country. The ad was pulled within 24 hours of release after widespread call-outs that the brand was insensitive and trivializing the issues being fought for by protesters which include the #MeToo movement (for the sexually abused) and Black Lives Matter.

“I don’t want to name brands [who fail] but there are those that [run unsuccessful campaigns] because they are inauthentic, they just want to latch on to the next trendy concept… just because something is trending doesn’t mean you have to [spin a campaign about it],” Mr. Gujral said.

The key, he said, is for brands to look for an issue or a cause or a conversation that the brand stands for, and start a conversation where “brands force people to take sides on an issue.”

“What we see more and more in 2019 is brands trying to connect to their purpose. This wasn’t there in 2017 for sure,” Mr. Gujral said.

Standing for something is what differentiates brands from their competition, he explained, as the battleground has moved away from competitive pricing because “people already know your prices and your competition’s.”

“If you’re a brand manager, the first thing you do is to define a brand [like], this is a brand that stands for women of this age demographic, etc.,” he said.

In the Philippines, Mr. Gujral noted that Closeup’s 2018 “Free to Love” campaign was successful because it leveraged its campaign to promote the “many facets of love through real-life stories of some Filipino couples,” as a company release said.

Beyond standing for something, Mr. Gujral also noted that listening to conversations about the most random things can bear fruit — like Heinz’s “Mayochup” campaign in 2018 where they noticed conversations on Twitter about people mixing ketchup and mayonnaise. They then did a Twitter poll asking people if the company should make a sauce combining the two. The poll harnessed over 500,000 responses, the most in a Twitter poll ever.

“Twitter Polls allowed people to both vote and see the results of the Mayochup debate in real-time. People could see how many votes were needed to reach the 500,000 goal, which in turn helped create more energy and excitement on both sides of the debate. The massive conversation around the Mayochup product drove significant awareness of new Heinz Mayonnaise. We saw 1 billion impressions in 48 hours from the Twitter poll,” Nicole Kulwicki, director of marketing at Heinz, noted in an article posted on the Twitter Marketing website. — Zsarlene B. Chua

James Dean to appear in movie 60 years after death

JAMES DEAN is coming back from the dead to appear in a new movie, a Hollywood production company said on Wednesday, causing an uproar about the idea of reincarnating one of America’s most beloved film icons.

Magic City Films said it had obtained the rights from Dean’s estate to digitally recreate the Rebel Without A Cause star, who died in a 1955 car accident aged 24, for a Vietnam War-era action drama called Finding Jack.

Dean will be recreated through a mixture of old photos and footage, along with computer generated creations projected over stand-ins. A different actor will lend his voice to what will be a secondary role for Dean’s character.

“We feel very honored that his family supports us and will take every precaution to ensure that his legacy as one of the most epic film stars to date is kept firmly intact,” producer Anton Ernst said in a statement.

“The family views this as his fourth movie, a movie he never got to make. We do not intend to let his fans down.”

However, many fans were horrified at the idea. Style publication Esquire.com ran a story listing “35 working actors they could have cast instead,” while youth culture website Vice.com pleaded “Please don’t do this.”

“This is among the most ghastly things to ever happen,” Nerdist contributing editor Lindsey Romain wrote on Twitter.

CMG Worldwide, which licenses intellectual property for dead celebrities including Dean, musician Chuck Berry, and astronaut Neil Armstrong, said the casting would open up new opportunities.

“With the rapidly evolving technology, we see this as a whole new frontier for many of our iconic clients,” CMG said in a statement.

Finding Jack will not be the first time that actors have appeared on screen long after death. Peter Cushing, who died in 1994, was brought back to life as Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin for 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story using computer generated imagery.

The late Carrie Fisher will be featured in the upcoming movie Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but the makers will use unseen footage the actress recorded before her death in 2016 rather than computer generated imagery.

Ernst told Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday that producers had conducted an extensive search for an actor to play the role of platoon leader Rogan, before turning to Dean.

“We have seen (screen) tests. When he’s on screen, it looks 100% like James Dean. It’s exactly the way that we envisioned it,” Ernst said.

Finding Jack is scheduled for release in November 2020. — Reuters

AboitizPower bullish on 2020

By Victor V. Saulon, Sub-Editor

ABOITIZ Power Corp. (AboitizPower) expects new power plants that will post their first full-year operations in 2020 to more than make up for the decline in its profit and revenue figures this year, its incoming president said.

“I’m bullish about next year. I’m very bullish about next year. For one, we’ve addressed most of the outage issues that we’ve had. Second, all these new capacities will be available 2020,” said Emmanuel V. Rubio, AboitizPower chief operating officer, in a briefing on Wednesday night.

Asked about the possibility of a reversal of this year’s slowdown, he said: “For sure.”

Mr. Rubio, who will become the company’s president and chief executive officer next year, said its Therma Visayas, Inc. (TVI) went online with its first 150 megawatts (MW) in April this year, with the other 150 MW going online in August.

“So now I have 300 MW available for the full-year 2020,” he said.

He said AboitizPower unit Hedcor, Inc. started operating an additional 28 MW in March this year to make the hydroelectric power plant in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon operating at its full 68.8-MW capacity next year.

“La Trinidad hydro, which is also FiT- (feed-in tariff) eligible, will be available for the full year. It’s 19 [MW],” he said, referring to another Hedcor project.

“And the big thing really is GNPD (GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co.). That’s a lot. That’s a huge capacity,” he added.

The Dinginin plant in Bataan is developing a supercritical coal-fired power plant with two identical units with a net capacity of 668 MW each. The plant’s first unit was previously scheduled to go online in October 2019.

Mr. Rubio said the first unit of the plant is expected to come in “probably earliest is April and the other unit is towards fourth quarter of 2020.”

His bullish outlook comes after AboitizPower on Wednesday reported its net income declined 19% to P13.5 billion for the first nine months of 2019 “due to the higher volume and cost of purchased power, lower spot market revenues, and lower plant availability.”

AboitizPower made up 60% of the total income contributions from the strategic business units of holding firm Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV).

“We continued to push our balanced mix strategy because we believe that the long-term energy security of the country can be solved by balancing sustainability, accessibility, and reliability of power. To date, our net attributable capacity is 3,483 MW and we will definitely hit our goal of 4,000 MW of net attributable capacity by next year. This translates to about 23 terawatt-hours (TWh),” Mr. Rubio said.

“After 2020, our sights are set for the next 10 years and our goal is to deliver about 40 TWh domestically,” he added.

Mr. Rubio said AboitizPower would continue to pursue its international aspirations, specifically in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Myanmar, with focus on renewable projects in wind, hydro and solar, and also look at gas.

“And when we achieve our RE and international goals, we would have built a 50:50 Cleanergy and Thermal energy mix,” he said. “With these targets in place, we are confident that AboitizPower will sustain its growth momentum and continue to advance business and communities in the next 10 years and beyond.”

On Thusday, shares in AboitizPower went down by 0.89% to P38.80 each.

Late pop idol George Michael returns with new song

LONDON — A new track recorded by George Michael in his last studio sessions before his 2016 death was released on Wednesday, in which the late British pop idol sings about social ills.

“This Is How (We Want You To Get High),” his first original material since 2012, will play at the end of upcoming festive film Last Christmas, itself inspired by Michael’s solo tunes and hits from his Wham! days.

One of the best-selling artists of all time, Michael, who rose to fame in the 1980s as part of duo Wham!, died at his home on Christmas Day 2016, aged 53. A coroner said he died of natural causes.

“The previously unreleased track, which was recorded during George’s final studio sessions, is his first original material to be shared for seven years,” a press release said.

“The lyrics, written exclusively by George, see the star addressing society’s ills with his trademark blend of self-deprecation and wry humor.”

Against a catchy melody, Michael’s distinctive vocals belt out lines like “Your daddy was a drinker,” “My daddy was a toker,” “I will always try to get my life together,” and “This is how we want you to get by on your sorry lives.”

An accompanying lyric video features animation of Michael over the years.

The Grammy Award-winner, who had several drug-related run-ins with the law, began working on the song in 2012. It was finalized in the studio in 2015.

Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou to Greek Cypriot immigrant parents, Michael was known for Wham! and solo hits like “Last Christmas,” “Careless Whisper,” and “Faith”.

The Last Christmas film, starring Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding about a woman working as an elf in a Christmas shop, takes its name from the 1986 Wham! festive tune.

The soundtrack for the romantic comedy, co-written by Oscar winner Emma Thompson, features 12 Michael solo songs and three Wham! tunes.

“Emma had a meeting with him and he was intrigued because… the intention was never to make his story, it was to make a story inspired by a song,” David Livingstone, a producer on the film, told Reuters, referring to a meeting Thompson had with Michael to discuss a screenplay.

Thompson heard the new tune and three other unreleased Michael songs last year when working on the soundtrack.

“It’s not like a song that’s been dug out of the vaults, that’s been sitting there unused because it wasn’t good enough. It was a song that he intended to do something with and this is its new home,” Livingstone said.

“(It) does feel like it’s tailor-made.” — Reuters

SMC earnings drop by 5%

EARNINGS of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) fell 5% in the first nine months of the year, as Petron Corp.’s profits took a hit from shrinking refining margins.

The listed diversified conglomerate showed in a presentation on its website yesterday its net income slipped 5% to P39.7 billion in the January to September period.

SMC did not disclose third quarter figures.

Year-to-date net sales were flat at P758.63 billion, versus P761.17 billion it recorded in the same period last year.

SMC’s operating income for the nine months also dropped 9% to P88.75 billion.

By business segment, Petron remained the biggest contributor to SMC’s earnings at P381.66 billion, despite seeing a 9% decline from the same nine-month period a year ago.

Petron earlier reported a 70% drop in net income to P3.6 billion “owing to prolonged depressed refining margins in the region and its refinery shutdown.” Although the earnings decline was tempered by a 2% rise in sales volume in Malaysia.

“We will continue to push for a level playing field in the industry where illicit trade persists. This level-playing field is what we hope will prevail throughout the country. We support government’s fuel-marking program and look forward to its implantation for all players,” SMC President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang said in a statement.

San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc. (SMFB) generated P226.37 billion in revenues, up 10% year on year, due to higher volume of its key products. SMFB said its segments all recorded growth — beer (11% to P103.88 billion), spirits (20% to P21.43 billion) and food (6% to P101.05 billion).

However, SMFB’s net income was flat at P22.92 billion in the three-quarter period as its poultry business has only started to recover in the third quarter.

The power business of SMC, which is operated by SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., contributed P105.14 billion in total revenues, 18% higher than a year ago.

The growth is driven by the 22% increase in off-take volume it recorded during the period, which stood at 21,581 gigawatt hours. This was traced to the higher bilateral sales volume of the company from improved operations at its power plants in the Sual, Ilijan, San Roque and Masinloc.

SMC Infrastructure reported a 9% drop in revenues to P17.79 billion in the nine-month period, mostly from the operations of toll roads which saw a 6% growth in vehicular traffic volume.

The packaging segment, through San Miguel Packaging Group, posted a 3% drop in revenues to P26.36 billion for the nine months. Shares in SMC were up 1.40 points or 0.83% to close at P169.90 each yesterday.

Meanwhile, in a separate disclosure, SMFB said its board of directors had approved a fixed-rate retail bond offering which aims to raise up to P15 billion.

The company has yet to finalize the terms of the offer, but said it will be registering the planned issuance with the Securities and Exchange Commission and list at the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. — Denise A. Valdez

Shopee pushes 11/11 sale with TV special

SINGAPOREAN e-commerce platform Shopee is gearing up for its biggest sale of the year on Nov. 11 with a TV special the night before on GMA Network, featuring performances from the network’s biggest stars.

“Christmas is an important holiday for Filipinos, and we are thrilled to kickstart the celebrations in the biggest way possible with our very first televised Christmas concert, the Shopee 11.11. Big Christmas TV Special,” Martin Yu, associate director at Shopee Philippines, said in a statement.

The TV special will air on Nov. 10, 10:30 p.m., on GMA. The show will include performances by Alden Richards, Maine Mendoza, Heart Evangelista, and Gabbi Garcia. Singer Jose Mari Chan will also premiere the new Shopee jingle for Christmas on the show. This is the second year that Mr. Chan has endorsed Shopee during the holidays.

The special will show simultaneously on Shopee via Shopee Live.

This year, the platform introduced Shopee Live where brands can interact and advertise their products with or without a celebrity endorser.

“Shopee Live actually achieved amazing success already: it has over 200 million views regionally to date,” Mr. Yu said during the sale’s launch on Nov. 5 at the Shangri-La at the Fort Hotel in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

Aside from the concert, Mr. Yu said that this year, prizes up for grabs are valued over P11 million, including a house and lot from Avida, a Rusi Mojo 200 motorcycle, and a Toyota Fortuner. The prizes can be won in three select Shopee Shake sessions.

Shopee Shake is a in-app game where users shake their phones to win Shopee coins which can be used for purchases.

Shopee will also be live-streaming celebrations for a full 12 hours during the sale.

For more information on the Shopee 11.11 Big Christmas Sale, visit www.shopee.ph/1111. — Zsarlene B. Chua

Data demand drives Globe Q3 profit higher

GLOBE Telecom, Inc. reported a 17% rise in profits in the third quarter, driven by strong growth in all its data-related products and services.

The Ayala-led telecommunications giant posted an attributable net income of P5.63 billion in the July to September period, up 17% from the P4.81 billion it recorded in the same period last year.

Year to date, Globe’s attributable net income was 20% higher at P17.68 billion.

Operating revenues jumped 13% to P41.89 billion in the third quarter, bringing the nine-month tally to P123.41 billion, up 11% year on year.

Consolidated service revenues increased 14% to P37.73 billion in the July to September period, pushing the nine-month total to P110.6 billion — 13% higher year on year.

Globe noted that data now accounts for 70% of service revenues, with 47% from mobile data, 14% from home broadband and 9% from corporate data.

For its mobile business, Globe generated P83 billion in revenues in the January to September period, 13% higher than the previous year. Globe said mobile revenues remained the top contributor accounting for 75% of the total service revenues led by the company’s prepaid brands.

Globe’s total mobile subscribers stood at 97.36 million as of end September, up 5% from the previous quarter. Of this, Globe Prepaid and TM subscribers stood at 94.69 million, while Globe Postpaid added 2.67 million.

For home broadband, revenues surged 19% to P16 billion during the nine-month period, “given the continued subscriber base expansion and rising demand for faster internet connectivity.”

Corporate data revenues grew 12% to P9.5 billion, while fixed-line voice revenues dropped 9% to P668 million.

Globe said operating expenses, including subsidy, increased by 8% to P52.8 billion in the nine-month period.

The telecommunications giant said it spent nearly P32 billion as of the first nine months of the year “to enhance its networks data capacities and capabilities.”

Globe also said it will “continue to reinvest in the network, which is currently on track to reach capital expenditure commitments of $1.2 billion by the end of 2019.”

It expects cash capital expenditures to end the year at around $900 million.

“We are happy that the sustained topline and profit growths we have achieved over the past three quarters have positioned us well as we head into the fourth quarter. We are likewise excited that, as we gear up for the roll out of our At Home Air Fiber 5G service, we are shaping the future of the nation and solidifying our leadership role in providing fast and reliable internet in the markets we serve,” Globe Telecom President and Chief Executive Officer Ernest L. Cu said in a statement.

Shares in Globe rose 2.52% to P1,870 each on Thursday. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Davao union files strike notice against Pepsi-Cola Products PHL

PEPSI-COLA Products Philippines, Inc. said a group of its workers in Davao filed a strike notice after a failure to conclude a new collective bargaining agreement.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange Thursday, Pepsi-Cola said the Davao-based labor union Pepsi-Cola Employee Workers Unions (PEWU) has served a notice of strike to the company for “refusal to negotiate.”

Pepsi-Cola said it was conducting negotiations with the union for the renewal of its collective bargaining agreement, the document that outlines the terms of employment as agreed upon by the company and the union, but the two parties failed to reach a settlement.

Moving forward, Pepsi-Cola and PEWU are set to hold discussions on Nov. 25, 27 and 28 to go over the collective bargaining agreement again.

“Both parties agreed to submit the negotiation for mediation to continue the bargaining with a view to finally reaching a mutually-beneficial agreement,” the company said.

Pepsi-Cola said PEWU is allied with the Federation of Coca-Cola Unions (FCCU)-Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa.

The company noted the threatened strike will not significantly affect its operations as the Davao office will “run as normal without business disruption.”

Last year, Pepsi-Cola was also involved in a labor dispute, with some of its employees picketing its Muntinlupa site. — Denise A. Valdez

Lecture on the state of oceans

ON NOV. 12, 4 p.m., a Spanish expert on Marine Sciences, Dr. Emma Huertas, will give a lecture on the state of the oceans at the Intramuros branch of Instituto Cervantes de Manila.

The lecture, entitled “The Oceans, 500 Years Later,” is organized under the framework of the 5th Centennial of the first circumnavigation of the world, a feat by explorers Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastian Elcano in a voyage commissioned by the Spanish crown. The lecture will make a comparison of the situations of the oceans 500 years ago and the present, and will present the value of scientific and historical knowledge as a tool for the conservation of our planet. The Intramuros branch of Instituto Cervantes de Manila is located in Plaza San Luis Complex, Intramuros, Manila. Entrance to the conference is for free on a first come, first served basis. For details visit http://manila.cervantes.es.

AllHome opens 3 new stores

ALLHOME Corp. said it is on track to hit its target of having 70 stores by next year as it opened three new stores in October.

The Villar-led retail company said in a statement yesterday it is well on its way to reach its goal of securing a 7.1% market share in the home improvement industry by next year as it continues store expansion across the country.

“We remain confident with our expansion program for the rest of the year. We are taking advantage of the underpenetrated home improvement industry in the Philippines by bringing AllHome to more locations,” AllHome Chairman Manuel B. Villar, Jr. said in the statement.

When it listed on the stock exchange last month, AllHome said it wants to double its market share in the home improvement industry heading into 2020. It is expanding its footprint in Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, Pampanga, Rizal and Batangas.

AllHome President Benjamarie Therese N. Serrano said in Thursday’s statement the company is also looking to tap new markets.

“We are not just expanding our store network but we are also increasing our customer base as we introduce a precursor to AllHome in areas where house construction is just starting, to provide more dedicated offerings and services to builders and contractors during the construction phase,” Mr. Serrano was quoted as saying.

AllHome posted a net income of P434.3 million in the first half of the year, rising 293.3% from a year ago, driven by a 66.9% increase in total revenues to P5.1 billion.

Shares in AllHome dipped 0.04 points or 0.35% to close at P11.38 apiece on Thursday. — Denise A. Valdez

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