Maniolas

SMIC’s board of directors approved yesterday the P50 billion package under the three-year shelf registration facility of the Securities and Exchange Commission. File photo MANILA, Philippines – SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) has launched a new round of fixed rate bond offer worth P50 billion, with an initial tranche of up to P20 billion targeted to be issued this year. SMIC’s board of directors approved yesterday the P50 billion package under the three-year shelf registration facility of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Initial issuance under this program is expected later this year in the amount of P15 billion with an oversubscription option of up to P5 billion,” SMIC said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) yesterday. SMIC’s management has yet to negotiate and finalize the terms and conditions including pricing, tenor and any increase in issuance amount. SMIC chief finance officer Jose Sio said proceeds would be used to support the expansion of its subsidiaries. The tenor may be seven to 10 years given the ample liquidity in the market, Sio added. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 In the first half of the year, SMIC reported a consolidated net income of P13.5 billion, an increase of 10 percent over the same period last year, with growth led by the property business. Excluding extraordinary items, recurring income grew 13 percent. Similarly, consolidated revenues grew six percent to P138.9 billion in the first half from the P130.9 billion generated in the same period last year. By Read More …

President Rodrigo Duterte vowed record infrastructure outlays to around P860 billion next year. File photo MANILA, Philippines — Infrastructure spending grew the slowest in at least 16 months in July as a transition in government also pulled down expenditures in other areas, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) reported on Wednesday. Capital outlays amounted to P45.9 billion during the first month of the Duterte administration, up just 0.8 percent year-on-year, much slower than the previous month’s 31.4-percent growth. The figure also marked the slowest growth since the 5.9-percent drop by the first quarter of 2015. Monthly data for January to March 2015 were unavailable. Broken down, actual infrastructure spending posted a “minimal” one-percent expansion to P38.7 billion. The balance was allotted for equity and support to local governments. “Although disbursements of the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) increased by P5.9 billion… it was offset by lower disbursements in the DND (Department of National Defense) and the ARMM ( Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao),” DBM said in a statement on its website. Specifically, the DPWH had tie-up “convergence programs” for the building of health and school facilities with the Health and Education portfolios. While details of such projects were unavailable, declines in the DND and ARMM could however by timing and procurement issues. For the DND, DBM said programs for military modernization had already been bid out in the first half and that the rest are still “in various stages of procurement.” ARMM, meanwhile, still experienced “delays in procurement” due to the election ban which prohibited bidding of projects Read More …

The PSEi gained 95.88 points or 1.27 percent to finish at 7,671.72, while the broader All Shares index gained 21.58 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 4,563.55. MANILA, Philippines – The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) continued to firm up yesterday, ahead of the scheduled meeting today of the US Federal Reserve. The PSEi gained 95.88 points or 1.27 percent to finish at 7,671.72, while the broader All Shares index gained 21.58 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 4,563.55. Except for the industrial index all sub-indices gained led by the services and mining index. Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist at Banco de Oro said all eyes are on the US Fed meting. Analysts said investors’ concerns on rate hike have ease as the latest US macroeconomic figures indicate a postponement of a September rate hike to possibly in December. A consolidation above the 7,500 level could lead to continued bounce following five weeks of decline. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Thus, the market may recover to 7,700 after today’s consolidation. The mining and oil index gained 256.39 points or 2.46 percent after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) cleared some mining companies after a technical audit. Semirara Mining and Power Corp. gained 4.77 percent to close at P114.20 per share after the DENR found its expansion project to be “technically sound,” and “complaint” with regulations. The company underwent an audit last July after the DENR sought to put an end to Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Puregold Price Club Inc. of retail tycoon Lucio Co is stepping up its expansion in Mindanao as it turns more optimistic on business prospects under the present administration. Puregold vice president for operations Antonio de los Santos said the company intends to accelerate store expansion in President Duterte’s home region given the expected investment boom and improving peace and order situation there. “We plan to expand more our footprint in Mindanao. At present the areas where we are form only a small part of Mindanao,” De los Santos said in an interview during Puregold’s KAINdustriya Convention yesterday. Of Puregold’s 266 stores nationwide, only eight are in Mindanao. These are located in Tagum, Lanang, Digos, Bukidnon, Cagayan De Oro, Butuan and Cotabato. “We opened our second store in Cotabato, that’s in Maguindanao, last week. That’s our second in Cotabato so that means business is good in the area. We are the only big retailer in that area,” De los Santos said. “So we want more stores in Mindanao. But what we’re looking at is not the number but the areas. What we’re looking for are right locations,” he added. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 De los Santos said potential areas for expansion in Mindanao are Iligan, Pagadian, Dipolog and Ozamis. He said these are the areas which the company sees “are ripe for a Puregold store” at present. According to De los Santos, the current administration’s commitment to improve the peace and order situation Read More …

Despite what they say about the Duterte administration, there is one thing the present government was able to do that the previous leaderships failed to do – fast track approval for important and critical infrastructure projects. Metro Pacific Investment Corp. subsidiary Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. (MPTDC) has just received the notice of award from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the North Luzon Expressway-South Luzon Expressway (NLEX-SLEX) connector road project. According to news reports, the contract for the project was awarded to MPTDC, the original proponent, as no comparative proposals were submitted to the DPWH during the Swiss challenge held last July. Being an unsolicited proposal by MPTDC submitted sometime April 2010, the law requires that a Swiss challenge be conducted wherein the government accepts comparative proposals from interested parties, after which the original proponent is given the right to match the best offer given. The connector road project started out as an unsolicited project by MPTDC in 2010. It was approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) board in 2013 under the public-private partnership (PPP) program. However, it suffered several delays because the government at the start said the proposal should undergo a Swiss challenge, and then it changed its mind and the DOTC proposed that the private proponent should instead enter into a joint venture with the state’s Philippine National Construction Corp. Sometime middle of 2014, the Department of Justice opined the JV is illegal, so government went back to the Swiss Read More …