Power unit drives Filinvest profits

Gains from core businesses, particularly energy, revved up the six-month earnings of Gotianun-led Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) by 41 percent to P5.5 billion, with the company pushing to reclaim its prepandemic record.

The listed holding firm on Thursday said revenues during the period likewise surged by 30 percent to P55.5 billion.

“FDC’s strong performance in the first half of 2024 was broad-based, led by banking, power and real estate,” FDC president and CEO Rhoda Huang said in a statement.

First-half revenues of power subsidiary FDC Utilities Inc. soared by 75 percent to P12.84 billion on higher energy sales from its fully contracted 405-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Misamis Oriental.

FDC said this was on the back of the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project, which was fully energized earlier this year. Based on FDC’s financial statement, FDCUI’s net income also nearly doubled to P2.12 billion.

Meanwhile, banking unit Eastwest Bank booked a 6.9-percent increase in earnings to P2.6 billion as its lending portfolio expanded.

Net interest income grew by 30.9 percent to P20.53 billion, buoyed by high demand in the consumer lending segment.

The real estate business under Filinvest Land Inc., Filinvest Alabang Inc. and Filinvest REIT Corp. contributed P1.32 billion in earnings to the group, up by 3.5 percent as the residential and retail segments grew.

Real estate revenues climbed by 18.8 percent to P7.72 billion, while mall and rental revenues grew by 11.9 percent to P4.1 billion.

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Hotel operations via Filinvest Hospitality Corp. (FHC) booked a 49-percent surge in revenues to P2.04 billion on improved occupancy and room rates, as well as higher food and beverage revenues.

FHC’s portfolio includes seven hotels across the Crimson, Quest and Timberland Highlands brands, with a total of 1,800 rooms.

Earlier, Huang said they aimed to break their prepandemic record of P11.97 billion in profits.

Reaching this means FDC has to grow its net income for the year by at least 34.5 percent, coming from an P8.9-billion profit last year.