Ayala Corp. income surges to P38.1B; ALI plans merger with 34 units
AYALA CORP. (AC) saw a 39% rise in its 2023 net income to P38.07 billion, driven by stronger performances of its business units, the listed conglomerate announced on Wednesday.
The company’s core net income improved by 48% to P41 billion in 2023, driven by its banking, real estate, and energy businesses, AC said in a regulatory filing.
Consolidated revenues surged by 12% to P341.9 billion from P306.64 billion in 2022. The company’s total costs and expenses also increased by 7% to P262.48 billion from P245.2 billion in 2022.
“We succeeded in getting aggregate core earnings to exceed the pre-pandemic high. Now we focus on getting better operating and financial results from each of our businesses, and on rationalizing the portfolio where it makes sense to do so,” Ayala President and Chief Executive Officer Cezar P. Consing said.
For AC’s banking segment, the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) had a 31% growth in net income to P51.7 billion in 2023. Total revenues rose by 17% to P138.3 billion due to better net interest and non-interest income.
BPI’s operating expenses climbed by 19% to P69.1 billion, led by larger spending on manpower, technology, and marketing.
On AC’s real estate business, Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) saw a 32% increase in profit to P24.5 billion in 2023 “as resilient property demand and heightened consumer activity fueled revenue expansion.”
Property development revenues increased by 14% to P92.3 billion, while reservation sales improved by 9% to P113.9 billion.
ALI’s commercial leasing revenues rose by 25% to P41.7 billion due to higher occupancy and rents from malls, offices, and hotels and resorts.
The property developer’s real estate investment trust, AREIT, Inc., also saw a 43% jump in net income to P4.9 billion.
For AC’s energy business, ACEN Corp. saw a decline in its reported net income to P7.4 billion in 2023 due to the P8.6 billion net gain in 2022. The company’s consolidated revenues rose by 4% to P36.5 billion.
“[The decline] was primarily due to a remeasurement gain from the acquisition of the Australian platform, offset by provisions taken for a Supreme Court decision on administered/regulated pricing in the Philippines and the Lac Hoa and Hoa Dong wind farms in Vietnam,” AC said.
ACEN’s parent company AC Energy and Infrastructure saw a 71% increase in 2023 core earnings to P9.5 billion due to improved operating earnings from ACEN and higher contributions from GNPower Dinginin.
On conglomerate’s telecommunications business, Globe Telecom, Inc. saw a 29% drop in its 2023 net income to P24.6 billion due to the one-time gain on the partial sale of its data center business in 2022.
Globe’s gross service revenues rose by 3% to P162.3 billion led by growth in mobile data, corporate data, and non-telco services.
AC said its healthcare business led by AC Health continues to scale its ecosystem, but saw a slightly negative net income in 2023 due to one-offs and higher manpower and marketing expenses.