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Buyacar acquires pre-owned cars from BDO

Economy

Mar 072013

Buyacar acquires pre-owned cars from BDO

Seated (from left): BDO asset management group senior assistant vice president Emmanuel R. Apilado, Esquire Financing Inc. president and chief executive officer Rajan Uttamchandani, BDO asset management group vice president Antonio M. Cruz. Standing from left): Esquire business development manager Isabel Olbes, Capitalife Lending Inc. chief executive officer Steve Borsuk and vice president Amit Borsuk, Esquire vice president Ravi Uttamchandani. MANILA, Philippines – Buyacar Inc. recently purchased another batch of pre-owned vehicles from BDO Unibank Inc. as a response to the increasing market for pre-owned cars in the country. A joint venture between Esquire Financing Inc. and Capitalife Lending Inc., Buyacar is negotiating with BDO to buy the next batch of vehicles as the company is cycling through its inventory faster than its target. Esquire Financing Inc.’ president/CEO Rajan Uttamchandan said: “We’re targeting 700 to 900 cars a year in sales.” In less than five months since it started operations, Buyacar has sold 50 percent of the cars that it purchased. Steve Borsuk, CEO of Capitalife Lending Inc., added: “The numbers keep growing because people are becoming aware of our company and the way we do business, and they know how to appreciate and value these terms.” Given expectations of future growth, Borsuk said.” “We believe that by the end of 2014, we will be able to sell hundreds or thousands of cars on a monthly basis.” Similar to the no-down payment car loans in the US, Buyacar brought this business model in the Philippines to meet the increasing demand Read More …

Potential markets for sugar exports cited

Economy

Mar 032013

Potential markets for sugar exports cited

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines could potentially ship sugar to India, Korea, Indonesia and the Middle East, according to the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA). In an announcement on its website, the SRA said state-owned Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) has identified export opportunities for refined and raw sugar from these countries. PITC, established in 1973, is the only state-owned international trading corporation mandated to promote local export commodities especially those from small and medium enterprises and undertake bulk importation of strategic raw commodities to secure domestic supply and stabilize local prices. Only buyers from India and Korea have so far provided specifications. The SRA said PITC’s potential buyers from India are interested in procuring an initial 100 to 200 metric tons (MT) of refined sugar of S-30 and M-30 grade. The volume may increase to 500 to 800 MT, expanding to between 1,000 to 1,500 MT by the second semester of 2013. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Buyers from Korea are interested in procuring 1,500 MT of refined white sugar per month. The sugar content per shipment should be 90 percent with a brightness of 19 to 20. Korean buyers are also interested in importing 12,500 MT of raw sugar monthly with a trial shipment of 3,000 MT to 5,000 MT. The Philippines intends to produce 2.356 million MT of sugar for crop year 2012-2013. The SRA is currently implementing measures to help farmers increase productivity and lower production costs ahead of the implementation of free Read More …

Bernanke defends Fed’s low interest rate policies

Economy

Mar 032013

Bernanke defends Fed’s low interest rate policies

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chairman Ben Bernanke is standing by the Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policies, cautioning that any move to raise rates prematurely could derail a still-modest economic recovery. Bernanke also sought to calm fears that super-low rates risk igniting inflation or rattling investors, during a speech late Friday in San Francisco to an economic conference sponsored by the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank. The central bank’s low-rate policies are intended to encourage borrowing and spending to boost the economy. Higher rates would make borrowing more expensive. Bernanke said the Fed’s policies mirror what other central banks around the world are doing. “Long-term interest rates in the major industrial countries are low for a good reason: Inflation is low and stable and, given expectations of weak growth, expected real short rates are low,” he said. “Premature rate increases would carry a high risk of short-circuiting the recovery, possibly leading — ironically enough — to an even longer period of low long-term rates,” he said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 His comments amplified testimony he gave to Congress this week. Critics, including some Fed regional bank presidents, have expressed concerns that the Fed may be raising the risk of inflation through its purchases of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities. As he did in his appearance before House and Senate committees this week, Bernanke sought to provide reassurance that the central bank is closely monitoring developments in financial markets to guard against such risks. He said 2010 Read More …

Coca-Cola closes Laguna plant but remains committed to Phl investments

Economy

Mar 032013

Coca-Cola closes Laguna plant but remains committed to Phl investments

MANILA, Philippines – Beverage giant The Coca-Cola Co. has decided to close its plant in Calamba, Laguna to streamline its regional operations. The company, however, said it remains committed to investing in the Philippines for the next 100 years. Bessie Arciga, corporate communications and brand public relations manager of The Coca-Cola Export Corp., said in an email that the decision to close the Canlubang concentrate plant will affect 57 direct employees. “In order to streamline operations, The Coca-Cola Co. continuously reviews its concentrate supply chain to drive greater efficiency and position itself to meet future growth in Asia. As a result of that review, the company has decided to produce all concentrate and beverage base for the Philippines in Singapore, and to close the Philippines concentrate plant,” she said. “This decision will allow us to be more efficient and to increase flexibility in the Asia supply chain,” she said further. The plant closure is expected to be completed within the year. To mitigate the effect of the plant closure, the firm is reassigning employees in Canlubang to its other plants or facilities in the country and in Singapore. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The company will likewise be giving a competitive severance package to its employees. But while the firm has decided to halt operations at its plant in Canlubang, it intends to pursue investments in the country. “Although we have closed our plant, the company remains committed to investing in the Philippine economy not only Read More …

US auto sales power ahead in February

Economy

Mar 032013

DETROIT (AP) — Americans want new cars and trucks, and they’re not letting higher gas prices or political dysfunction stand in their way. New car and truck sales were up four percent in February as rising home construction and cheap financing kept the US auto recovery on track. While the pace of growth is slowing, industry analysts expect more gains in the coming months, saying there’s little that could derail demand for new cars. Car buyers have already shrugged off higher Social Security taxes, which cut their take-home pay starting in January. Gas prices — which rose 36 cents to $3.78 per gallon in February — didn’t change their habits, either. And they ignored the debate over automatic spending cuts that were due to take effect Friday. “Quite frankly, we think most of America is getting a little tired of hearing about some of the dysfunction,” said Kurt McNeil, General Motors Co.’s US sales chief. “We think the fundamentals are strong and that’s what’s important, and that’s what’s driving the economy.” February sales hit an annualized rate of 15.4 million cars and trucks. That’s still short of the recent peak of close to 17 million in 2005, but it’s quite healthy compared with the anemic 10.4 million recorded during the recession in 2009. The industry isn’t likely to see the double-digit monthly gains it saw last year, when Japanese automakers came roaring back after the 2011 earthquake in Japan. Instead, auto companies are settling in for a period of slower Read More …

Local smartphone app created for sari-sari store load sellers

Economy

Mar 012013

Local smartphone app created for sari-sari store load sellers

MANILA, Philippines — A new smartphone application was introduced for “sari-sari” stores or mini-stores in the country which sell prepaid cellphone load credits to their customers. Called the SariLoad, the app was developed by Sari Software Solutions, a local company in the Philippines. The company said SariLoad demonstrates a first-of-its-kind smartphone-based loading app for sari-sari stores. A public demo of the app was made recently at the 2013 Globe National Convention which was attended by Globe Telecom’s load distributors and resellers from all over the Philippines. SariLoad is designed to run on Android-based smartphones and comes packed with features that address the needs of sari-sari store owners. The app was first fielded to several sari-sari stores in a closed beta testing for a few months in order for Sari to gain real-world insights and learning. During the SariLoad demo led by Sari’s CEO and founder Ibba Bernardo, user interface designer Philip Cheang, and product research manager Cristina del Rosario, it only took seconds to perform the task compared to the traditional methods which take a few minutes to sell load, thereby saving sari-sari store owners valuable time and allowing them to serve more customers. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The app can also show how much the store is earning at any given time period. Del Rosario highlighted the creation process for the SariLoad app which took into account all the suggestions of the sari-sari store owners who tested the app. Del Rosario reiterated that such Read More …

Google clings to cash for acquisitions, says CFO

Economy

Feb 282013

Google clings to cash for acquisitions, says CFO

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google plans to cling to its bulging stash of cash to pay for potential acquisitions and other technology investments that might boost future profits, a top executive said Thursday. Patrick Pichette, who oversees Google Inc.’s bank accounts as the company’s chief financial officer, explained the company’s rationale for hoarding $48 billion in cash during a technology conference hosted by Morgan Stanley. “It serves the shareholder best to actually have that strategic ability to pounce” when there is the opportunity to make a major acquisition, Pichette said. Although he didn’t identify possible takeover candidates for the future, Pichette cited Google’s $12.4 billion acquisition of cellphone maker Motorola Mobility last year as a prime example of why the company believes it needs to have lots of money at its disposal. Although Motorola has been a financial drag on the company so far, Google believes having it will ultimately will help it put its digital services on more smartphones and tablet computers. The money-management policies of publicly traded companies are getting more attention as more firms hoard huge amounts of cash instead of introducing or increasing dividends to reward stockholders. Apple Inc., the world’s most valuable company and a Google rival, is currently under the most scrutiny because it holds $137 billion in cash. One of Apple’s shareholders, hedge fund manager David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital, is pressing Apple to create a new class of dividend-paying stock that would supplement the quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share that the Read More …

Facebook buying Atlas ad business from Microsoft

Economy

Feb 282013

Facebook buying Atlas ad business from Microsoft

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook is buying a set of online advertising tools called Atlas from Microsoft in its latest attempt to build a more effective marketing system around its social network. In making the deal announced Thursday, Facebook is betting the acquired technology will be more fruitful under new ownership than it was during the past 5 1/2 years under Microsoft’s control. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Atlas is part of an online advertising service called aQuantive, which Microsoft Corp. bought for $6.3 billion in 2007. Aquantive didn’t bring in as much online ad revenue as Microsoft envisioned, prompting the software maker to absorb a $6.2 billion charge last year that resulted in its first quarterly loss in its 26-year history as a public company. Given the magnitude of that writedown, Facebook probably didn’t have to pay much to take Atlas off Microsoft’s hands. The undisclosed purchase price is a sign that the amount isn’t substantial enough to leave a big dent in the company’s finances. Atlas provides monitoring tools that help advertisers assess how their online marketing tools are faring. It helps marketers make adjustments needed to connect people more likely to buy their products and services. Facebook Inc. already analyzes the interests that people share on its social network to target ads at certain audiences. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Those insights helped Facebook sell $4.3 billion in advertising last year, a 36 percent increase from 2011. But that Read More …

As US budget cuts loom, is gov’t shutdown next?

Economy

Feb 282013

As US budget cuts loom, is gov’t shutdown next?

WASHINGTON (AP) — With big, automatic budget cuts about to kick in, House Republicans are turning to mapping strategy for the next showdown just a month away, when a government shutdown instead of just a slowdown will be at stake. Both topics are sure to come up at the White House meeting Friday between President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders, including Republican House Speaker John Boehner. A breakthrough on replacing or easing the imminent across-the-board spending cuts still seems unlikely at the first face-to-face discussion between Obama and Republican leaders this year. To no one’s surprise, even as a dysfunctional Washington appears incapable of averting a crisis over economy-rattling spending cuts, it may be lurching toward another over a possible shutdown. Republicans are planning for a vote next week on a bill to fund the day-to-day operations of the government through the Sept. 30 end of the 2013 fiscal year — while keeping in place the new $85 billion in cuts of five percent to domestic agencies and eight percent to the military. The need to keep the government’s doors open and lights on — or else suffer the first government shutdown since 1996 — requires the GOP-dominated House and the Democratic-controlled Senate to agree. Right now they hardly see eye to eye. The House GOP plan, unveiled to the rank and file on Wednesday, would award the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs with their line-by-line budgets, for a more-targeted rather than indiscriminate batch of military cuts, Read More …

MPIC profit jumps 28% to P6.5 B

Economy

Feb 282013

MANILA, Philippines – Infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), fresh from beating its full-year core earnings guidance, expects another banner year amid continuous economic growth. Core net income, which strips out currency and derivatives-related items, jumped 30 percent to P1.5 billion in the fourth quarter. This allowed MPIC to post a 28-percent uptick in core profit to P6.5 billion in 2012 from P5.1 billion in 2011. It is also higher than the company’s P6.3-billion core profit guidance. “The strong results for 2012 reflect significant improvements in service levels and efficiency gains for all our operating companies,” MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said in a briefing. “It is likely that the 2013 results will be better than the 2012,” Pangilinan said, adding that the outlook is encouraging given optimistic views on the Philippine economy. In the fourth quarter, profits were driven by strong water, power distribution, toll roads and hospitals businesses, MPIC chief finance officer David J. Nicol said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 For the entire year, consolidated net income rose to P6.4 billion from P5.1 billion a year ago. This reflects a P142-million non-recurring net loss. MPIC president and CEO Jose Ma. K. Lim said the increase in core net income was due mainly to higher profit contributions from Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), higher rates for Maynilad Water Services Inc., traffic growth at Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) and investments from the hospital group. In terms of contribution to MPIC’s net operating income, Maynilad Read More …

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