LT Group Inc., the listed holding company of tycoon Lucio Tan, said unaudited net income in the first nine months of 2018 rose 84 percent to P12.57 billion from P6.83 billion year-on-year, boosted by the strong performance of the banking and liquor businesses.
LT Group said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Philippine National Bank contributed P4.27 billion or 34 percent, while the tobacco business accounted for P6.83 billion or 54 percent.
Tanduay Distillers Inc. contributed P707 million, while property unit Eton Properties Philippines Inc. and Asia Brewery Inc. delivered P314 million and P291 million, respectively.
The group’s 30.9-percent stake in Victorias Milling Company Inc. added P115 million.
PNB’s net income stood at P7.63 billion in the first nine months of 2018, up 65 percent from P4.64 billion on year.
The bank’s nine-month net income in 2018 included a net gain of P3 billion from the sale of properties, up significantly from P337 million a year ago.
Excluding the property gain, PNB’s income was at P4.65 billion, 8 percent higher than a year ago level of P4.3 billion.
The group’ equity in net earnings from a 49.6 percent stake in tobacco unit PMFTC Inc. amounted to P6.7 billion in the first nine months of the year amid modest volume growth.
LT Group said the volume of the industry had been declining since the substantial increase in excise taxes.
The conglomerate, however, noted that PMFTC gained some market share in the first nine months of the year to 69.8 percent from 66.9 percent in the same period last year. It also posted a 1.1-percent growth in volume to 36.7 billion sticks from 36.3 billion sticks on year.
Tanduay’s net income jumped 65 percent in the first three quarters of the year to P722 million from P438 million in 2017.
Total revenues increased 10 percent to P13.66 billion on year on higher volumes of liquor and bioethanol sales.
Eton’s net income in the first three quarters of 2018 climbed 28 percent to P314 million as revenues were rose 9 percent to P1.81 billion on strong sales from the leasing and residential businesses.