Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC), a leading power supplier in the Visayas which is now controlled by the Pangilinan Group, expects to double its existing capacity of 850 megawatts by 2021. Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., said the country needs more power plants because demand for power is increasing along with economic growth. GBPC has an aggregate capacity of 852 MW of coal and diesel powered generating capacity, including the 150 MW expansion project which is expected to be operational later this year of which 70 MW is contracted to Meralco. Bulk of the additional capacity will come from the planned 670 megawatt coal plant in La Union, GBPC’s first power plant in Luzon. The plant has no ECC or environmental clearance certificate yet but officials expressed optimism the company would be able to obtain the certificate even as Environment Secretary Regina Lopez is known to be critical of coal plants. MPIC president and CEO Jose Ma. Lim said GBPC was also looking at investing in renewable energy. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 In the first half of the year, GBPC sold 1,787 gwh of electricity, four percent higher than last year’s 1,721 gwh, owing to higher plant availability. This translated to core income growth of 27 percent with fewer purchases from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market to source power obligations to customers. GBPC’s core income contribution to MPIC’s earnings amounted to P120 million, net of financing for the Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Laguna-based technology firnm Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp. saw an eight percent rise in its first half profit to $3.5 million on the back of higher revenues. Revenues grew 15 percent to $32.5 million with the RF/microwave/millimeter wave business accounting for 37 percent of total. In the second quarter alone, Cirtek reported a 10 percent growth in net income to $2 million as revenues expanded by 23 percent to P17.5 million due to the strong performance of its broadband and antenna systems business under Cirtek ATS. Cirtek remains optimistic about its performance for the rest of the year as it sees the global millimeter wave technology market growing 45 percent annually, with a total addressable market of $12 billion by 2020. To take advantage of the expected growth in the millimeter wave market, Cirtek intends to continue to deliver high-end box build finished products, test-board fabrication, test solutions, and product support businesses required by its customers. The company is also developing proprietary wireless products and components for the wireless communication industry. It expects to begin selling these products in the fourth quarter of the year. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Cirtek likewise plans to continue to expand its high capacity, multi-port, multi-band antenna business with Quintel. Apart from this, Cirtek is evaluating acquisition opportunities that will either significantly scale up its manufacturing operation or give it access to high-end research and development capabilities. Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp. (CHPC) is the holding company of Cirtek Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank), the banking arm of taipan George Ty,  continued to make strides in its core business expansion with net earnings hitting P9.1 billion in the first half of the year.  “Overall, we are pleased with our earnings results.  Despite the volatility in the global financial markets, local elections and heightened competition, we managed to accelerate our performance in our core business, particularly lending, low cost deposit generation and fee income,” said Metrobank president Fabian Dee. “More importantly, our margins held steady in the face of the challenging environment.  We are also confident that given our strong capital, we are best positioned to take advantage of the country’s growth opportunities,” Dee added. Leveraging on the strength of its balance sheet, Metrobank expanded net loans and receivables by 24 percent year-on-year to P920.5 billion.  The commercial segment accelerated by 27 percent as the bank continued to support the business expansion plans and infrastructure spending of local conglomerates, while the consumer segment sustained strong volume growth of 17 percent. Low cost deposits grew 21 percent, faster than industry’s 13 percent growth rate in overall deposits as of May 2016.  This improved the bank’s CASA ratio to 61 percent of the total P1.3 trillion deposit base.    Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Despite the market volatility and competitive pressures, net interest margin held steady at 3.5 percent as a result of the robust growth in low cost deposits as well as loan expansion Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Akbayan Party-list Rep. Tomasito Villarin has filed a resolution seeking an inquiry on the review currently being undertaken by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) involving a P70-billion telecommunications deal. House Resolution 93 hopes to direct the Committee on Trade and Industry to conduct an inquiry on the PCC’s review of PLDT and Globe Telecom’s joint purchase of the telecommunications business of San Miguel Corp. (SMC). “There is a need for Congress to determine whether the PCC is sufficiently empowered by current statutes to withstand harassment suits in fulfilling their mandate or if there is a need for remedial legislation so that it carry-out its functions more effectively,” the resolution said. “Any duopolistic tendencies must not be allowed so that the consumers will be protected and new market players capable of providing better service to end-users will not be dissuaded from doing business in the Philippines. There is also a need for the public, how ordinary consumers and users will be affected by this transaction in the years to come,” it added. The PCC earlier said Globe and PLDT refused to comply when the anti-trust body requested for additional information on the key terms of the telco transaction, thereby preventing the PCC from granting it a deemed-approved status. The P70-billion transaction covered the purchase of the entire equity interest in SMC’s Vega Telecom Inc., New Century Telecoms Inc. and eTelco Inc., with PLDT and Globe getting 50 percent each. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is seeing a reversal of roles in the global contact center space as foreign investors and clients are now the ones calling for opportunities, the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) said. “These companies that we are talking to now, they are the ones who are setting a meeting with us. Before, we had to look for these meetings, knock on their doors and beg for 10 minutes of their time just to listen to our story. Now it’s the reverse as they are the ones telling us I need one hour of your time,” CCAP industry affairs director Raymond Lacdao said. He said several UK, US, and Australian firms which are not yet present in the country are currently exploring opportunities to do business in the Philippines. “It’s very encouraging. But the interesting part is that we have actually attracted other countries outside of those main countries that we are targeting. We have companies from South Africa, Indonesia, Bangladesh. These are not our normal targets but they are interested now,” Lacdao said. The Philippines has held the distinction of being the world’s contact center capital since 2010. “There’s a lot of interest with the Philippines that we’ve seen. There’s a lot of interest in our industry because we’ve actually been known as a top provider for professional services,” CCAP president Benedict Hernandez said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “What’s interesting is there are client coming from the region, like Read More …