Manila, Philippines – April 2, 2019 Three Ayala companies have been named among the top Philippine winners in FinanceAsia’s 19th Best Companies Poll, beating about 240 other entrants. Ayala Corporation (AC), Ayala Land (ALI), and Globe Telecom (Globe) have all received top citations in multiple categories.
Ayala Corporation placed first in Best Managed Company with Ayala Chairman & CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala as Best CEO, and Ayala Chief Financial Officer Jose Teodoro K. Limcaoco as Best CFO. AC also ranked first in Best Growth Strategy, first in Best ESG (Environment, Social and Governance), and third in Best Investor Relations.
By the end of 2018, AC’s net income grew to ₱31.8 billion, up five percent from the previous year with strong earnings contributions from ALI, Globe, and AC Energy. AC invested ₱43.7 billion in capital expenditure in 2018 and is set to spend ₱22.6 billion in 2019 primarily to grow business in AC Energy, AC Infra, and AC Health. Over all, the Ayala group maintains its capital spending level this year at ₱262 billion, with a bulk allocated to ALI and Globe, which have set aside ₱130 billion and ₱63 billion respectively.
“The aggressive growth strategy that we embarked on over a decade ago has been unprecedented for the Ayala group. Over the past 10 years, we spent close to ₱200 billion in capital expenditure at the parent level alone to support the investment programs of our various business units, including our new growth platforms in power, industrial technologies, infrastructure, education, and healthcare. Our profitability has also improved steadily over the past 10 years, growing at a compounded annual rate of 15 percent,” Ayala President and COO Fernando Zobel de Ayala said.
As Ayala grows its business in 2019, it continues to closely monitor its ESG performance against its 360° Sustainability Reporting Framework, maintain its best practices, and accurately disclose said performance in its Integrated Report. Ayala shall continue to remain highly responsive and accountable to its investors and stakeholders.
Ayala Land ranked second in Best Growth Strategy, fourth in Best ESG, and third in Best Managed Company.
“As we celebrated our 30th year in 2018, we remained focused on developing more sustainable communities that enrich the lives of Filipinos. We introduced two new estates to bring our total to 26, registered the highest level of residential sales in our history, and stayed on track to open more commercial developments. These led to strong financial results and positioned our company for continued growth in the coming years,” said ALI President & CEO Bernard Vincent O. Dy.
Last year, robust property development and commercial leasing fueled ALI’s net earnings, which grew 16% to ₱29.2 billion. Of its record ₱110.1 billion in capital expenditures in 2018, ALI spent 41% on residential projects, 23% on commercial projects, 15% on land acquisition, 12% for the development of estates, and 9% for investments.
Since 2014, ALI has been working to reach its “2020-40 plan”, with the goal of achieving ₱40 billion in net income by 2020. It continues to extend beyond its traditional property development while increasing investments in the commercial leasing segment through sustainable means.
ALI continues its strategy of co-creating sustainable communities to help develop sustainable cities and communities, which is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. To ensure that people can live and work sustainable in all ALI developments, it prioritizes four Sustainability Focus Areas in each of its properties: site resilience, pedestrian-transit connectivity, eco-efficiency, and local economic development.
Additionally, in 2017, ALI kicked off its ambitious plan for all its commercial assets to be carbon-neutral by year 2022. In 2018, ALI offset 64% of its carbon emissions, coming from only 37% in 2017. This was accomplished through ALI’s 560 hectares of carbon forests, the use of passive cooling systems, and renewable energy.
Globe Telecom came in third place in Best Managed Company and sixth in Best Growth Strategy.
Globe’s 2018 net profits were boosted to ₱18.6 billion in 2018 by the sustained demand for data-related services, which accounted for 61% of total service revenues last year. It invested ₱43.3 billion in capital expenditure in 2018, equivalent to 32% of its service revenues, and is set to spend ₱63.0 billion in capital expenditure in 2019 for continued network expansion. Globe continues to develop new products, services, and partnerships to further enhance the Filipino digital lifestyle.
“We will continue to put Filipinos at the forefront of digitalization by delivering a differentiated level of customer experience as we constantly improve the performance of our network,” said Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu.
Other winners in these categories include SM Investments Corporation, San Miguel Corporation, Metro Pacific investments Corporation, Megawide Construction Corporation, Megaworld, First Gen Corporation, Aboitiz Power Corporation, and D&L Industries.
The full results of the Best Companies in Asia poll will be released in FinanceAsia’s Autumn issue. See more at www.financeasia.com.
