Conglomerate Ayala Corp. said Tuesday net income nearly doubled in the first three quarters to P46.2 billion from a year ago, fueled by the strong contribution from core businesses and the one-time gain from the sale of thermal assets.
AC said in a disclosure to the stock exchange equity earnings from business units grew 77 percent to P51.9 billion, boosted by contributions from Bank of the Philippine Islands, Ayala Land Inc., and AC Energy.
The group also recognized gains from the merger of AC Education with iPeople and from the partial divestment of AC Energy’s thermal assets.
All these tempered the impact of weaker results from Manila Water Co. Inc. and AC Industrials.
Net income in the third quarter rose 7 percent to P8.3 billion, supported by robust results from BPI and AC Energy.
“We are pleased to see sustained growth in most of our core businesses continuing to provide stability in our earnings. AC Energy has quickly become a significant contributor to our portfolio,” AC president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala said.
“We continue to be mindful of the challenges in some sectors, particularly AC Industrials and the global manufacturing space. We believe the strategies put forth in AC industrials continue to be promising but are saddled by near-term by geopolitical and trade issues. The pipeline of opportunities remains strong and efforts to manage the effects of this near-term uncertainty are being aggressively addressed,” he said.
Manila Water’s nine-month net profit dropped 11 percent to P4.4 billion as Metro Manila’s water crisis early this year continued to weigh down on core concession.
AC Industrials, which is experiencing headwinds from one of the sharpest and most widespread downturns in global manufacturing that significantly weighed on most of its business lines, posted a net loss of P1.6 billion in the first nine months.
AC Energy registered a nine-month net profit of P24.3 billion boosted by the recovery of costs incurred from adjustments in the construction and operations of its power plants and gains from the partial divestment of thermal assets.
It also realized earnings from 410 megawatts of new solar projects in Vietnam following the start of commercial operations in the second quarter.