Ayala Corp., the country’s oldest conglomerate, said income declined 19 percent in the first quarter to P5.4 billion from a year ago, as real estate and banking businesses continued to reel from the impact of the pandemic.
The conglomerate said in a disclosure to the stock exchange property unit Ayala Land Inc. and banking arm Bank of the Philippine Islands registered double-digit drops in net income in the first three months of the year. But Globe Telecom Inc. and AC Energy Corp. registered double-digit net income growths during the period.
“The challenges and prospects brought about by the pandemic is an opportune time to recalibrate Ayala’s portfolio strategy. In the next three years, we aim to sharpen the components of our portfolio to optimize returns and further strengthen our balance sheet,” Ayala president and chief executive Fernando Zobel de Ayala said.
“We will place greater emphasis on portfolio strategy with a sharper focus on optimizing returns from existing businesses and a disciplined process on capital deployment,” Zobel de Ayala said.