Ayala income hits P34B owing to record BPI performance

Record earnings in the banking business buoyed the nine-month net profit of Ayala Corp., the country’s oldest conglomerate, by 5 percent to P34 billion. Excluding one-time gains, the Zobel family-led firm’s core earnings climbed by 19 percent to P36.7 billion, Ayala said in a stock exchange filing on Wednesday.

Revenues likewise went up by 9 percent to P268.45 billion.

“Ayala’s growth is being sustained by the strong performance of our core businesses,” Ayala president and CEO Cezar Consing said in a statement.

“We continue to manage our younger businesses to get them to sustainable trajectories in the near-term,” Consing added.

Bank of the Philippine Islands, the third-largest private bank in the country, did the heavy lifting for Ayala as its net income surged by 24 percent to a record P48 billion. Net interest income likewise jumped by 22 percent to P93.9 billion as total loans expanded, driven by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ recent interest rate cut.

Such monetary policy easing typically results in heightened demand for loans because of lower borrowing costs. Noninterest income also swelled by 32 percent to P31.9 billion on strong fee and trading income.

Robust consumer activity and higher property demand lifted the earnings of real estate giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) by 15 percent to P21.2 billion. Property development revenues surged by 34 percent to P76.6 billion as bookings across ALI’s residential segments increased.

Telco giant Globe Telecom Inc., which has been working to gradually cut its capital spending, saw a 6-percent uptick in net income to P20.6 billion due mostly to a one-time gain from its tower sale program.

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Earnings were likewise boosted by added contributions from popular e-wallet GCash.

Renewable energy firm ACEN Corp., the largest solar power developer in the country, ended the period with an P8.1-billion net income, a 28-percent rise on higher sales in the spot market.

Total attributable renewables output expanded by 31 percent to 4,127 gigawatt-hours, which helped in serving demand.