Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – Philippine shares closed 0.11 percent lower today. The local bourse was closed on Monday for a public holiday. The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 7.65 points to 7,239.38. The all-share index, however, rose by 1.02 points, or 0.02 percent, to 4,278.11.   Trading volume reached 11.75 billion shares worth P12.68 billion ($283.22 million).   There were 98 gainers, 70 losers while 52 stocks closed flat.

MANILA, Philippines – The peso moved flat against the greenback midday Tuesday, settling at 44.74 from the previous day’s 44.75. Total volume transacted at the Philippine Dealing System amounted to $289.8 million in the morning, slightly higher than the $286 million posted the same period on Thursday. The peso opened Tuesday at 44.7.

MANILA, Philippines – Think tank Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) stressed the need for flag carrier Philippine Airlines Inc. (PAL) to take in a new strategic partner after the group of taipan Lucio Tan successfully bought back the stake of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) in the airline. In its latest aviation analysis titled “PAL needs more and stronger partnerships. All Nippon Airways is a small step,” CAPA said PAL needs a strategic partner to mount more flights to the US and Europe. The think tank said the recent commercial partnership with All Nippon Airways of Japan and Dubai-based Etihad Airways is the right way to boost global competitiveness for the Tan Group. “ANA and Etihad have both ruled out potential investments in PAL – at least for the time being. The LT Group could look to re-engage with ANA and Etihad while also exploring other potential suitors that could come to the table with both a comprehensive codeshare partnership and capital,” CAPA said. The Tan Group successfully bought back the 49 percent interest of SMC in PAL last Sept. 15 for $1.3 billion. SMC’s wholly-owned subsidiary San Miguel Equity Investments Inc. (SMEII) acquired a 49 percent equity interest in Trustmark Holdings Corp. for $500 million. Trustmark owns 97.71 percent of PAL Holdings, which in turn owns 84.67 percent of PAL through PR Holdings Inc. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “PAL will need a much bigger and stronger portfolio of partners – and ideally Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Property conglomerate SM Prime Holdings, Inc. clinched three major awards at the 12th Annual Conference of Mall China International Symposium hosted by China Shopping Center Development Association (Mall China).  SM Prime was awarded with the Mall China Golden Mall Awards 2014 City Advancement Award for its SM City Xiamen/SM Lifestyle Center. The SM City Chengdu Chenghua, on the other hand, received the Mall China Golden Mall Awards 2014 Community Shopping Center Award, while the SM City Chongqing Yubei won the Mall China Golden Mall Awards 2014 Regional Shopping Center Award. The awarding ceremony was held on Sept. 22, 2014 in Beijing. Mall China highly recognized SM Prime’s expertise in shopping mall development and operations as well as its brand competitiveness. It said that SM Prime’s shopping malls have demonstrated “beyond-standard capabilities in infrastructure optimization, brand selection and distribution, attentive customer services, and innovative culture.” This is the second win in Year 2014 for SM Prime after garnering two Mall China Awards on April 7. “With the dramatic growth of the business and the challenges of rising e-commerce, we will stick to the SM philosophy of consistent endeavor on the brand, culture, service and innovation,” Allan Brosas, AVP Operations of SM China said.  Established in 2002, Mall China is the first non-profit organization in Mainland China catering to China’s retail property sector with 700 corporate members of investors, developers, operators, retailers and relevant service agencies. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The Golden Mall Awards aims to promote the best Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Security Banking Corp.is planning to make its presence felt in more areas outside its Luzon stronghold. Alberto S. Villarosa, Security Bank president and chief executive officer, said locations for future branch expansion is eyed in the Visayas and Mindanao, particularly in areas like Cebu and Davao. “What we are now doing is looking at selective provincial areas where we are either not present in or we’re under-represented and that’s where we’re focusing on,” he said. Villarosa, however, said the planned expansion would not be “as extensive” as it was in recent years, when the company opened 50 branches in two years’ time. “We’re almost over in terms of the number of branches where we want to be,” he said. As of end-June this year, Security Bank has grown its combined network to 253 branches from 117 branches six years ago. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Villarosa said the bank would open three more new branches before the year ends. Security Bank’s move to put up more branches outside Luzon is part of the company’s plan to enhance its retail banking activities in the coming years. Villarosa said Security Bank remains bullish on expanding its presence in retail banking in the short term. “We expect that our retail bank in the next three to four years will be strong contributor of total business. We’re really looking at a model where a corporate bank, the commercial bank and the retail bank will be equal contributors Read More …