Alliance Global Group profit hits P4.1B in H1

MANILA – Andrew Tan-led Alliance Global Group, Inc. (AGI) on Friday reported its net profit reached PHP4.1 billion in the first half of 2020, down by 67 percent from PHP12.5 billion during the same period last year.

Consolidated revenues fell 26 percent to PHP61.4 billion from last year’s PHP82.8 billion, as the conglomerate faces the hurdles caused by the coronavirus pandemic that affected most of its businesses.

“The country’s strict two-month lockdown weighed heavily on most of our domestic operations. We take comfort from the fact that we have managed to diversify our sources of income, either by type of products or by geographic contribution, and this has helped us mitigate the impact of this pandemic on our group performance,” AGI chief executive officer Kevin Tan said in a statement.

The conglomerate has varied interests spanning real estate developments through property giant Megaworld Corporation; leisure, entertainment and hospitality through Travellers International Hotel Group, Inc.; spirits manufacturing through Emperador Inc.; quick-service restaurants through Golden Arches Development Corporation (GADC), popularly known as McDonald’s Philippines, which is a strategic partnership with the George Yang Group; and infrastructure developments through Infracorp Development Corporation.

In the first six months of the year, Megaworld posted a 33-percent decline in attributable net income to PHP5.4 billion from PHP8.1 billion a year before.

Consolidated revenues fell 25 percent year-on-year to PHP23.8 billion, as the strict community quarantine weighed on mall rentals, real estate sales, and hotel revenues.

Office rentals, however, grew 10 percent to PHP5.6 billion, proving anew its dominance and stronghold in the country’s office sector as it catered mostly to the more resilient business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

Emperador, the world’s biggest brandy producer and owner of the world’s fifth-largest Scotch whiskey manufacturer, recorded a 2-percent year-on-year improvement in attributable profit to PHP3.3 billion in the first half this year.

Meanwhile, the ongoing community quarantine, which put a temporary halt in casino gaming operations, has taken its toll on Travellers International.

The owner and operator of Resorts World Manila (RWM) recorded a net loss of PHP3.7 billion in the first half this year, a reversal from its PHP845-million net income the year before.

The community quarantine also significantly affected GADC’s operations which saw its bottom line post a loss of PHP709 million in the first half this year, reversing the profit of PHP751-million the year before.

At the start of the lockdown, only about 38 percent of the McDonald’s stores were operational, while activities were limited to take-out, drive-through, and delivery services as dining-in was not allowed.

“This global health crisis has brought us new learnings. We have modified our product offerings and acquired new skills to adapt to the changes in consumer behavior. Likewise, our move to transform our operations under a digital strategy, an undertaking we have started only last year, has supported most of our businesses especially during the strictest period of the community quarantine,” Tan said.