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URC trims capex by up to P3 billion to conserve cash

UNIVERSAL Robina Corp. (URC) is taking off P2.5-P3 billion from its capital expenditure (capex) budget this year as part of efforts to survive the ongoing pandemic.

URC President and Chief Executive Officer Irwin C. Lee told stockholders in a meeting on Thursday the company usually allots capex of about P8-P10 billion every year, but this will have to be reduced in 2020.

“We’ve taken a very hard look at our capex plans for 2020, looked at what can be deferred, what can be saved, prioritizing the most critical ones. We’ve shaved somewhere between P2.5-P3 billion already from the 2020 plan,” he said.

“That’s an important part of shoring up our cash, prioritizing what’s important, and making sure that our capex is still working on the right projects that will help us into the future,” he added.

Mr. Lee said the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in an uncertain outlook for the company’s future, as the global lockdowns to contain its spread has disrupted URC’s supply chain from raw materials to consumers.

The company’s net sales in the first quarter was tempered to a 0.4% uptick to P33.5 billion due to lower revenues from its international businesses, particularly in Indochina. Sales from its agro-industrial business also declined, partly due to lower hog prices from lingering worries over the African swine fever.

Its net income went down 32% to P2.1 billion during the period, mainly from non-operating foreign exchange losses on balance sheet items.

“We may see months of sporadic production suspension due to recurring quarantines, or raw material supply. It’s not just our operations that matter here. It’s those of our suppliers, of contractors, and of our transportation partners. A lot must go right in a very challenging environment, and not all of it will,” Mr. Lee said.

Despite the current environment, he said URC is confident it can withstand the challenges as it maintains a healthy cash position of P21.8 billion as of end March.

“We are working on capturing learnings on people productivity, planning for a new digital workplace, and overall accelerating our simplification of digital transformation efforts,” Mr. Lee said.

Shares in URC at the stock exchange fell P1 or 0.76% to P132 apiece on Thursday. — Denise A. Valdez

Senate plans one-year franchise for ABS-CBN

THE Senate is looking at granting ABS-CBN Corp. a provisional franchise of at least one year, which it plans to have approved on final reading by June 1, a Senate leader said on Thursday.

There are two bills pending on the media network’s franchise in the Senate: one proposing to grant it a 25-year franchise, and another providing a provisional franchise that will allow its operation to continue until June 30, 2022.

“Baka magkaroon ng compromise (There might be a compromise), definitely what we’re looking at is no less than a year provisional franchise,” Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel F. Zubiri said in a virtual briefing.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed on second reading a bill that gives ABS-CBN a provisional franchise, which will expire on Oct. 21, 2020.

Mr. Zubiri said the five-month period may not be enough to tackle the 25-year franchise renewal of ABS-CBN and its unit ABS-CBN Convergence, Inc., as the Congress is also occupied in crafting pandemic response measures.

He also said that the process might be affected by the October congressional break as well as the rainy season.

The Senate Committee on Public Services is set to hold a hearing on the provisional franchises on Tuesday. Mr. Zubiri said the Senate version may be sponsored on Wednesday, which may be passed on second and third reading on May 25 and June 1, respectively.

“Plano namin May 25, maipapasa na on second reading. With the three-day rule, we can take it up again on June 1 for third final reading,” he said.

Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who will be the presiding chair for ABS-CBN franchise hearings, sees a speedy deliberation on the proposal, considering it has already been “exhaustively” discussed in February.

Mr. Gatchalian said he supports the continued operation of the network, seeing the role media play in the middle of the crisis brought by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

“My personal view on the ABS issue is connected to the fight against COVID,” he said in a separate virtual briefing.

“Importante na lahat ng TV, radio, print, online, gumagana ngayon (It is important for all TV, radio, print, and online [entities] to be operating now), and the more we can disseminate and educate our people, the better,” Mr. Gatchalian said. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

FDCP launches surveys to see effect of COVID-19 on audio-visual industry

THE Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) is asking audio-visual workers, their companies, and distribution companies to answer several online surveys for the council to be able to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine measures on the audio-visual (AV) industry.

The information gathered through the surveys will give the council “powerful information on what the government can do to mitigate the economic effects of the pandemic on the industry now and in the future,” according to a release.

Previously, the FDCP conducted a series of aid programs called DEAR (Disaster/Emergency Assistance and Relief) to give cash aid to AV workers, freelance members of the entertainment press, and live performers, crew, and staff. The aid program, which saw the FDCP re-allocate P20 million in its budget, provided cash aid of between P5,000 and P8,000 for every qualified individual.

The FDCP has so far released P12 million to aid 1,500 freelance AV workers and is currently processing more. The deadline for applications for aid is on May 15.

Those qualified for aid had to be included in the council’s film registry (though applying for aid and submitting registry application could be done at the same time). The aid programs were expected to help thousands of displaced workers, according to the FDCP.

And now, to see the scope of the effect of the pandemic on the entertainment industry, the FDCP is asking companies and individuals to answer several questions which include enumerating lost projects, actual/estimated total income lost from cancelled projects, and workdays lost.

Below are the links to the FDCP surveys:

For production companies, producers, or a company that provides goods, equipment, or services to the audio-visual industry which have experienced a loss of income as a result of the current pandemic: surveymonkey.com/r/CovidImpacttoAVcompanies

For freelance audio-visual workers: surveymonkey.com/r/CovidImpacttoAVFreelancers

For theater owners and/or distributors: surveymonkey.com/r/CovidImpacttoPHCINEMAS — ZB Chua

DMCI Holdings income plunges 78%

CONSUNJI-LED DMCI Holdings, Inc. recorded a huge profit fall in the first quarter, citing low market prices and the impact of the government’s quarantine measures to arrest the spread of the global pandemic since the latter half of March.

In a stock exchange disclosure, Thursday, the diversified conglomerate said it saw a 78% decline in net income in the quarter to P616 million from P2.7 billion in the same period in 2019.

Its core net income dropped by 64% to P1 billion from P2.8 billion in the same quarter a year ago, excluding a P414 million non-recurring loss due to sales cancellations for a DMCI Homes project in Davao City and a net loss of P91 million from the company’s share in the depreciation of the two power plant units of Sem-Calaca Power Corp. in 2019.

“Our consolidated results were weighted down by operational headwinds, low market prices and the initial effects of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ),” DMCI Holdings Chairman and President Isidro A. Consunji said in a statement.

Semirara Mining and Power Corp.’s contribution to the listed holding firm’s core net income went down 51% to P623 million in the January-March period from P1.3 billion in the same quarter last year as average coal prices decreased by 16% and average electricity prices were down 27%.

DMCI Homes posted a core net loss of P197 million, lower than the P481 million it earlier recorded, due to slowdown in revenue recognition as the ECQ has impeded collections and completion of construction projects and as the construction cost for completed units in the preceding year has increased.

DM Consunji, Inc. delivered a lower income contribution to its parent, down 53% to P170 million from P359 million, citing lower margins for a number of projects, higher depreciation, and productivity losses related to quarantine measures.

DMCI Power Corp.’s contribution to the holding company also fell by 3% to P97 million from P100 million because of lower electricity dispatch in favor of hydropower plants in Oriental Mindoro.

DMCI Mining Corp. chipped in P26 million, lower by 75% from last year’s P103 million, as shipment of lower-grade nickel fetched lower prices in the market.

Further, Maynilad Water Services, Inc. remitted a net income contribution of P379 million to DMCI Holdings, 13% lower compared with first-quarter 2019’s P436 million, as it was affected by lower water consumption among commercial and industrial customers, and higher depreciation and amortization due to its capital expenditure program.

Mr. Consunji said that the next quarters will be more challenging for the firm as he expects the full impact of the virus-related restriction measures on its businesses.

“We expect the succeeding quarters to be even more challenging because of the full impact of the coronavirus containment measures,” he said.

On Thursday, shares in DMCI Holdings declined by 2.82% to close at P4.13 each. — Adam J. Ang

How the arts have been helping during hard times

THE enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila has hit its 60-day mark. While selected industries will slowly begin to resume operations as the metropolis transitions to a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), live performances and other activities which entail large gatherings remain postponed. Still, over the past two months, singers, musicians, actors, directors, and writers have collaborated to raise money for the benefit of those who have been badly affected by the enhanced community quarantine. And they are already planning for the future.

The Open House online fundraising program — headed by the Artist Welfare Project, Philstage, SPIT MNL, Third World Improv, and the Theater Actors Guild and Ticket2Me — has focused on raising funds for displaced performing arts workers. Meanwhile, the daily concert fundraiser Bayanihan Musikanhan, organized by National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab, has focused its fundraising efforts on urban poor communities affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

OPEN HOUSE
Started on March 26, Open House mounted online programs ranging from concerts, to interviews and roundtable discussions participated in by various artists from Philstage member companies and iWant series, among others.

In a phone interview with BusinessWorld, Philstage Corporate Secretary and Open House Head of Programming Alvin Trono noted that the programs have been “highly collaborative” with artists from theater, music, and television joining forces on the project.

“The current form of Open House has tried everything possible and reached out to a different audiences,” Mr. Trono said.

Open House will stream its final show today which features a culmination of all the events that happened since the start of the program in March. (Visit https://www.facebook.com/OpenHouseFundraiser/ for updates).

Plans are underway for Open House to continue after May 15, Mr. Trono noted, this time as a money generative platform for artists and as a way to showcase more educational content for audiences.

Over the past two months, Mr. Trono said they have observed that the online programs with the most streams and views were of workshops and roundtable discussions due to its “value of learning” and ability of “introducing more audiences to the theater world.”

As for monetizing the content, Mr. Trono noted while plans have yet to be finalized. “There are specific both private and government institutions that are interested in collaborating with us at this point,” he said.

What started as a temporary platform will continue post quarantine and COVID-19.

“We will continue to develop material that will extend our reach from marketing promos, short shows, and post performance discussions,” Mr. Trono said. “We’re going to continue the platform for discussion, for archival purposes, on the state of Philippine culture now, and record that for posterity for future generations.”

Since it started on May 7, Open House has raised P1,001,000 to support 500 workers.

BAYANIHAN MUSIKAHAN
The online concert fundraiser Bayanihan Musikahan launched on March 20 with five separate concerts which kicked off with National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab.

“We began with a simple concept to go organic, foregoing the usual concert trappings and simply asking the artists to sing from their homes — with whatever equipment they have,” independent curator, art critic, and writer Marian Pastor Roces, who is head of communications of the fundraiser, told BusinessWorld in an e-mail. “Some are new to the possibilities of online streaming. Artists helped artists with the technology. Mr. C (Ryan Cayabyab) educated himself quickly on the new media.”

The fundraiser has conducted more than 100 concerts since it began, and has raised more than P70 million in cash as of May 6, and another estimated P20 million in kind as of May 9.

The campaign partnered with Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) and the Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Pamilya ng Pantawid (SNPP) for its relief efforts.

“We have delivered food to more than 50,000 urban poor families; given hot meals daily to 300 homeless individuals housed temporarily at College of St. Benilde; financed one barangay quarantine center in Quezon City; bought nearly 700 tons of vegetables from farmers in Benguet and other provinces, for distribution in Metro Manila,” Ms. Roces wrote.

Bayanihan Musikahan’s second season of programs will continue throughout May.

“We hope to be able to build a permanent facility for the homeless, under the supervision of St. Arnold Janssen Kalinga Center founder Fr. Flavie Villanueva; a massive production of face masks by urban poor communities; upgraded carinderias (roadside eateries) for a different model of food distribution, and another barangay quarantine center,” Ms. Roces wrote.

“This way, when the concerts are over, the project would have left economically viable activities that extend even beyond the pandemic. We want Bayanihan Musikahan to be the gift that keeps on giving.” she wrote.

To watch the previous Open House shows, visit https://www.facebook.com/OpenHouseFundraiser/. To donate, visit https://ticket2me.net/e/5778?fbclid=IwAR1FzpYOWCehLVeTFb_h5Dj8ZNCiVwVH5XCzu0Gm90byyUZ1MbsahwpT13c.

To watch the previous and upcoming Bayanihan Musikaha shows, visit https://www.facebook.com/bayanihanmusikahan/. For more information and donation details, visit https://www.bayanihanmusikahan.org/. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

Construction halt pulls down Eagle Cement earnings by 25%

EAGLE Cement Corp. reported a 25% drop in net earnings for the first quarter due to reduced construction activity in light of quarantine measures to contain the coronavirus.

The cement manufacturer said in a statement on Thursday its net income in the January-to-March period fell to P1.2 billion from P1.6 billion a year ago.

Its topline went down 16% to P4.5 billion as the slowdown in construction activity reduced demand for its products.

It noted that before parts of the country were put under an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in mid-March, Eagle Cement was recording a growth in sales volume.

As construction work will now be allowed under ECQ, Eagle Cement said it was looking forward to recording a bounce-back in demand.

“Now that construction projects have resumed in the midst of the ECQ, we expect the demand for cement to steadily pick up in the coming weeks,” Eagle Cement President and Chief Executive Officer John Paul L. Ang was quoted as saying in the statement.

“Eagle Cement is fully capable of providing sufficient high-quality cement and we look forward to supporting both public and private sectors in their construction needs as areas in the Philippines shift to more relaxed community quarantine regulations,” he added.

The company is expecting to complete a new cement mill in Bulacan by the third quarter, which would raise its annual cement output to 8.6 million metric tons by the end of the year.

Eagle Cement already has three production lines in San lldefonso, Bulacan and a fourth production line under construction in Malabuyoc, Cebu.

Shares in the company at the stock exchange closed flat on Thursday at P8.4 apiece. — Denise A. Valdez

Spotify’s microsite offers musical connections

LIKE almost everything these days, how and where people listen to music has also been affected by the pandemic and the various quarantine or lockdown procedures. Music streaming service Spotify noted in a late-March blog post that people are now listening to more “chill” music — more acoustic fare than dance music. And thanks to social distancing, The Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” (1980) also saw a 135% spike in people searching and listening to it.

Since people can’t physically come together, Spotify created a “Listening Together” microsite to try to bring people together by “visualizing these connections in real-time in a way that has never been done,” according to a release.

“Spotify’s new ‘Listening Together’ campaign is inspired by a simple question to help create human connection: what are you listening to right now?” the company said.

The microsite (spotify.com/together) visually displays when people are streaming the same track on a rotating, 3D map of the Earth. So those listening to indie folk-pop group Ben&Ben’s “Kathang Isip” (2017) can see where other people are listening to the same song.

Spotify got the inspiration for the microsite from a 2014 social experiment by media artist Kyle McDonald where he played with the idea of “finding serendipity of two listeners pressing play on the same song within milliseconds of each other,” according to a release.

The streaming service is also handing over the reins to various Asian artists to “take-over” several Spotify playlists. The artists will curate and present songs they’ve been listening to while in quarantine and to “amplify connections between artists and their fans, bringing them closer together through a shared love of music.”

Some of the Filipino artists taking part in the take-over are Ben&Ben, Moira dela Torre, and Jason Marvin (known for songs like “Tahan Na”). The artists will choose and provide commentary to the songs they included in the “OPM Says Chillax” playlist on the site.

“Fans can look forward to honest commentary about their favorite at-home routines, hobbies, self-care tips, and tracks they’re currently listening to such as [Cynthia Alexander’s] “Owner of the Sky” (2000) and [Side A’s] “Forevermore” (1994) to inspire their days,” said the company.

New artists are set to do the take-overs every week and to keep up to date, check Spotify’s “At Home” playlist hub to see a collection of playlists “to soundtrack your home.” — ZBC

Bloomberry net profit slumps 38% after slowdown in tourism, gaming

BLOOMBERRY Resorts Corp. (Bloomberry), the listed operator of Solaire Resort & Casino (Solaire), posted a 38% profit drop in the first quarter as measures to counter the coronavirus pandemic led to a decline in tourism and the suspension of gaming activities.

The Razon-led company told the stock exchange on Thursday its consolidated net profit slumped to P1.4 billion from P2.2 billion last year. Total revenues fell 13% to P9.4 billion, as gaming revenues contracted 10% to P12.2 billion.

Solaire had to suspend gaming operations since March 16 in compliance with government regulations to limit the spread of the coronavirus. This resulted in a 19% volume decline at its VIP gaming tables, which posted 21% lower revenues at P4.73 billion. Mass tables and slot machines also recorded 2% lower revenues at P3.93 billion and P3.56 billion, respectively.

Solaire Korea’s Jeju Sun contributed gaming revenues of P93.1 million, down 63% also due to pandemic-related restrictions in South Korea. Suspension of its operations began as early as March 6.

Non-gaming revenue streams of Bloomberry generated P1.7 billion in the first quarter, lower by 10% from a year ago. A decline in hotel occupancy at Solaire at 67.3% from 87.8% in the first quarter of 2019 pulled its revenues down 11% to P1.7 billion.

Jeju Sun’s non-gaming revenues added P17.9 million or 42% higher as its amenities were partially reopened in the first quarter.

Operating expenses fell 7% to P5.8 billion as the company had to pay lower gaming taxes due to lower gaming revenues. It likewise spent less on advertising and promotions during the first quarter.

“We look forward to restart the gaming segment soon after the quarantine is lifted,” Bloomberry Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Enrique K. Razon, Jr. said in a statement.

He noted recovery is expected to be slow as customers and employees would have to adjust to the so-called “new normal.” Nonetheless, the company is laying out a comprehensive plan to maintain a safe working and recreational environment post-quarantine.

“At Solaire, we plan to meet and exceed the acceptable local safety standards. Our stringent regimen of safety measures will be world class examples of the safe re-opening of entertainment venues and of kickstarting the local economy to return the livelihoods of our communities,” Mr. Razon said.

Shares in Bloomberry at the stock exchange picked up 15 centavos or 2.80% to P5.50 apiece on Thursday. — Denise A. Valdez

WFH during the ECQ: Ateneo de Davao’s Mark “Macoy” Samante

FOR a unit involved in community engagement and advocacy, with disaster response and resilience among its main programs, working from home during a health emergency sounds rather contradictory.

But as people’s movements are restricted by quarantine protocols, Ateneo de Davao University’s Community Engagement and Advocacy Council (UCEAC) Chair Mark Paul O. Samante said they had to quickly adapt to keep their commitments — both internal or within the university’s different units, and external or those with other civil society organizations (CSOs) and local government units (LGUs) — going.

In an e-mail interview with BusinessWorld, Mr. Samante shared some of the challenges and lessons learned from adjusting to a work from home (WFH) scheme.

The interview has been lightly edited.

How has the WFH arrangement affected your tasks/responsibilities?

At the onset of the WFH arrangements brought about by the ECQ (enhanced community quarantine), greatly affected was our ability to interact and interface with CSO’ meetings, which may have led to a general response to uplift affected communities because of this pandemic.

While we were able to organize a goods distribution for stranded AdDU (Ateneo de Davao University) students in their boarding houses, coordinating in an online setting was something new for most of us. We were so used to being able to call for volunteers to repack and prepare the goods for distribution. This time around, we had to limit the volunteers physically present during the repacking. We had to re-tool volunteer work for online coordination with the affected students. It is tough to adjust to work that entails physical coordination and interaction, such as the one we have in the UCEAC.

What is your preferred meeting method and why?

For large meetings involving fellow university administrators, we use Zoom. The capability of Zoom to accommodate several users at once works well for administrative meetings. For office and other meetings, we usually use FB Messenger as the go-to method since most have access to this, and it uses fewer resources. We only have a small number of participants in these meetings.

Where is your “home office”?

I converted part of my toy customizing work station in my home as my office. It serves as my home office during the day and my regular hobby space during weekends.

What time do you start your workday now compared to when you actually went to the office? What time does it end?

On a regular workday, I usually start at eight in the morning and end at five p.m. With this WFH scheme, I typically begin daily office work at nine a.m., paper works, follow up with staff, online meetings, etc. However, I start checking e-mails as early as 8 a.m. and plot my schedule for the day based on the e-mails and the tasks entailed to those e-mails. I usually end my WFH office day at five p.m.

How do you take breaks at home?

You lose track of time when at home. You start working, and before you know it, it is already time for lunch. The first couple of days working from home was much like this, late lunches and working breaks. As it went on and I got adjusted to the routines, I have managed to squeeze in breaks. I join my kid for a while, watching him play his video games or prepare lunch as my breaks from the work I have to do online.

Any interesting or funny stories from working from home?

In one Zoom meeting I had, I had to use my wife’s laptop. I forgot to log off her account, and I just realized that the profile I had on was hers when we were about the begin the meeting. I had no time to log her off. In short, I had to continue using her account for the whole meeting duration. With her account I am using, I couldn’t turn off my video and had to stay put since turning off video would display her profile picture. It might make other administrators wonder who is in their meeting.

As a result, I had to stay “on video” the whole meeting and drink from my daughter’s Hello Kitty mug, which was the only thing available near me since I could not just turn off the video and stand up while the meeting was ongoing. It also meant no bathroom breaks while the meeting was going on. Next time, check your accounts before using Zoom.

When restrictions are eased, how do you and your organization intend to carry on with work arrangements? Will they be more flexible now in terms of a WFH scheme?

We are only five in the office; we can go back to regular reporting once this is allowed again. However, working from home may be an option for anybody who wants to avail of it. We just set up a regular meeting day in the office where we are all present, and then we can do three-day shifts per staff. It would mean only three people reporting per day. It also helps in maintaining physical distancing in the office while carrying out our tasks.

Right now… we are working on developing a system to help those affected by the No work, No pay policies.

As for the Ateneo de Davao University operations, we are preparing for a near fully online mode of class delivery, which has already started this summer. Near fully online education means to deliver outcomes expected of education in the Philippines based on minimum standards set by CHED (Commission on Higher Education) and DepEd (Department of Education).

Faculty were trained for the summer and are all preparing their online materials for the coming school year.

To quote University President Fr. Joel E. Tabora, “We will be harnessing the power of technology to deliver the education it is committed to give based on its mission and vision as a Filipino, Catholic, and Jesuit University operating in and for Mindanao.” — Marifi S. Jara

Franchise group lists post-pandemic top businesses

The Philippine Franchise Association (PFA) has identified new market opportunities for the retail sector as a result of the pandemic, including home-cooked meal deliveries, health products, and cheap makeup.

“Stores promoting hobbies, arts, crafts, board games and gardening will also start to prosper,” PFA Founding President and Chairman Emeritus Samie C. Lim said in a webinar on Thursday.

He said stores selling fitness products, personal protective equipment, “inexpensive indulgences” like beer, chocolate, junk food, and makeup will also see growth.

“In the next couple of years, one of the fastest-selling items — interesting to note — will be eye makeup because of everybody covered with masks. The only thing people can see are the eyes,” he said.

Service sector opportunities, he said, include home schooling, healthcare, mental health and counselling clinics, professional cleaning, and crematorium services.

Mr. Lim said businesses should immediately cut unnecessary operating costs and consider closing down underperforming stores.

“Negotiate aggressively with your landlord for a win-win agreement and immediately open stores that are profitable or at least making enough to break-even. Implement strict health and sanitation practices to keep both your employees and customers safe,” he said.

He encouraged companies to move to digital systems and to secure business financing through loans.

Mr. Lim said the crisis has created new potential franchisees, including stay-at-home mothers who have been buying and selling products during the lockdown, noting that they have the business experience and have created intimate connections within their communities. — Jenina P. Ibañez

A novel of its time

By Deo Giga

BOOK REVIEW
Normal People
By Sally Rooney

Everyone has rained plaudits upon Sally Rooney. I think I’m alone in expressing ambivalence.

On one hand, there is nothing especially novel in the books she has written when it comes to plot/theme (a love affair threatening to ruin a friendship in Conversations with Friends, a “Langit ka, lupa ako” situation in Normal People). On the other, there are some new things in them: in the first, the love affair is actually a ménage à quatre involving a lesbian relationship.

Rooney’s hyperarticulate characters are wont to aver such pronouncements as, “No one who likes Yeats is capable of emotional intimacy” (Conversations with Friends), or “Time consists of physics, money is just a social construct” (Normal People). Her plots’ underlying impulse is from the 19th century — I half-expected someone to say something like “She was wont to aver such-and-such.”

But what is remarkable about “the great millennial novelist” is that she has performed the feat of bringing the way we currently write text messages and e-mails to the novel: her prose is terse and clear and uncomplicated and doesn’t aspire to poetic fancies. However, it manages at times to be simultaneously so ambiguous it’s as if, unaccompanied by an emoji, her characters’ declarations or opinions could be interpreted as either awestruck or mocking, serious or jocular. (You do not break up via SMS [obsolescent] or the myriad messaging platforms we now have. With or without an emoji.) One writer calls it the Internet Voice.

Normal People opens with the delineation between the classes to which our protagonists belong. Lorraine, Connell’s mother, is shown cleaning the mansion of Marianne, the rich but unpopular girl suspected to be mentally ill by her high-school classmates who bully her. Smart and well-read, she sees school as an “oppressive environment,” where a teacher calls her out for inattentiveness, to whom she snaps back, “Don’t delude yourself, I have nothing to learn from you.” (Digression: I know of someone in college who walked out on a dull professor, saying, “I am not growing in this class.” She became a professor herself.)

Equally smart and well-read, Connell belongs to that rare species in school: the nerdy jock. Unlike Marianne, he’s popular and seems well-adjusted. They awkwardly get together and become unavowed fuck buddies, not an official item. They ignore each other in school as if afternoons never see them exploring each other’s bodies with the savage lust of hormone-raging teenagers. They don’t define their relationship except that it should be kept under wraps. Connell doesn’t immediately disclose why he didn’t ask Marianne to the Debs (the Irish version of prom) but they will discuss it, however elliptically, years later. They break up for the first time. During college, Connell puts off presenting the idea of moving in together, eventually causing their umpteenth break-up by then. There are so many things unsaid in this novel and I suppose this is also why Rooney is celebrated. The silences are as much part of the novel as the expositions. I suppose this is also why she’s been compared with Jenny Offill (read between the lines) and Rachel Cusk (nothing outwardly happens but something somehow has).

Still later, tables turn. Marianne proves to be this cosmopolitan girl liked by many, lusted for by men, but unsure of what to do with her life. Privilege and adulation have made her oblivious to the fact that there’s life after college. Connell becomes the misfit, the outsider, whose relationships are vapid because of Marianne’s shadow. Then he gets medicated for depression.

Rooney peppers the book with protests (the war in Gaza, for instance, is casually mentioned) and other newsworthy events but never really commits to them. Maybe she merely wants to display her political leanings or to be perceived as au courant. Maybe she feels that her book’s sexual politics are too parochial and that world politics can make it less narcissistic. How people get labeled as “damaged” and yearn to be “normal” is somewhat disappointingly glossed over — there are conversations about childhood physical abuse, fraternal bullying, noncommittal sadomasochism, suicide, etc., but all this is eclipsed by the lovers’ weird chemistry. An early distasteful character vaguely matures and apologizes in the end but it feels a bit staged.

Both of Rooney’s novels are set in Trinity College, Dublin. If she sets her third book there once more, she should call them The Trinity Trilogy. (The Trinity Trinity?)

Recommended for people who want to know how depression diagnoses are started with a questionnaire.

(Side note: In a recent pedantic essay, Joseph Epstein wrote that contemporary novels have killed the art form because, among other, more supercilious reasons, they have stopped discovering “the inner lives of men and women in their engagement with the larger society in which they live out their days.” [Why this condescending homophobic bigot still has a publishing career is beyond me: I should stop getting deceived by clickbait.] Let me tell you, Mr. Stuck-Up-Who-Has-Cowardly-Denied-Comparing-Gayness-to-Committing-Murder: the novel is still alive and well and ambitious as ever. Ms. Rooney’s might not pass your ridiculously blinkered standards but it is a novel still, one that captures her generation’s dialect and zeitgeist, aiming to cross certain social categories and constructs.)

Shakey’s to cut capex by 70%

SHAKEY’S Pizza Asia Ventures, Inc. (SPAVI), the listed firm behind Shakey’s Pizza and Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, is reducing its capital spending for the year to focus on reopening its store network and ramping up its delivery business.

“[W]e continue to prioritize a strong cash and liquidity position, and have taken action to reduce our original capex budgets by 70%, as well as suspended all national advertising, focusing on store opening and delivery availability instead,” SPAVI President and Chief Executive Officer Vicente P. Gregorio said in a statement yesterday. It did not provide the specific amount of its capex.

SPAVI said it has now partially opened more than 200 stores, which represent almost 75% of the company’s store network. These stores are currently limited to delivery and carry-out services and are open on shortened hours and reduced workforce.

In the coming weeks, as the government relaxes quarantine measures in different parts of the country, SPAVI said it was looking to open more stores such as those in malls.

“[W]e are looking beyond the short-term disruptions. In a new ‘post COVID’ world, we believe that a strong brand available in multiple channels is key. As a result, we have been strengthening our off-premise capabilities which include further investing in our existing in-house delivery platform, working closely with third-party aggregators, and building on new innovations such as the curb side pick-up,” Mr. Gregorio said.

The company is yet to report its earnings for the first quarter. In 2019, its net income grew 10% to P923 million, driven by an 11% growth in sales to P10.4 billion.

Shares in SPAVI at the stock exchange slipped 15 centavos or 2.30% to P6.37 each on Thursday. — Denise A. Valdez

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