ILOILO CITY — The business community welcomed a formal declaration by security forces that Iloilo province is “peaceful and ready for further development,” following an assessment that the communist insurgency has been contained and amid a lower crime rate.
DAVAO CITY — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Davao City office is partnering with the Knights of Online Marketers, Inc., a start-up information and communication technology firm, to tap into the growing demand for virtual office assistants.
MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – The Philippine stock market bounced back today following the US Federal Reserves’ statement that it will go slow in adjusting interest rates. The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index rose by 0.75 percent or 57.97 points to 7,814.55, while the broader all-share index gained 0.41 percent or 18.59 points to 4,520.78. Trading volume reached a billion shares worth P9.16 billion ($204.26 million) with 96 stocks advancing, 92 declining, and 35 were unchanged. Two of the six counters bucked the trend. These were the industrial and the mining and oil sectors. “The PSEI rode on the region-wide cheer,” analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment. US stocks rallied over 1.2 percent last night following the Fed’s dropping of the word “patience” in its guidance language for interest rates. Instead, it avowed adjustments will “go slow” in consideration of further improvements in the macro economic data and of pushing inflation rates towards the 2 percent target. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Major European markets closed in the green albeit Germany, the region’s biggest economy and the regional benchmark, Stoxx 50, slipped. Asia was also covered in a sea of green with only the Nikkei 225 marginally in the red as the yen firmed. “With the Fed now out of the picture attention should squarely focus on domestic corporate earnings and Greece and Europe,” Calaycay said. The next “big” thing the market would be looking out for is Read More …
MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – A congressional panel in the House of Representatives today voted for the approval of the merger of two government-owned banks. Batangas Province Representative Nelson Collantes, chairman of the House committee on banks and financial intermediaries as well, said panel members had voted unanimously for the merger of the Development Bank of the Philippines and the Land Bank of the Philippines with the latter as the surviving entity. Collantes said the merger seeks to fuse the two banks financial capabilities, improve the delivery of services, and achieve economic efficiency. “The merger will improve the balance sheet capabilities of the merged bank, thus resulting in a stronger bank which will have a competitive edge over other banks both in the domestic and global markets,” Collantes said. The lawmaker said the consolidated entity would be more effective, efficient and sustainable in carrying out the mandates of both banks, particularly in anticipation of the wave of foreign banks that may enter the Philippine market upon the Asean integration in 2015.
MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – The affirmation by Fitch Ratings of the credit standing of the Philippines has buoyed hopes for the continued economic growth of the country this year despite a simmering political crisis brought about by the botched police operation in the Southern Philippines last Jan. 25. On Wednesday, Fitch Ratings affirmed the country’s BBB-long term foreign currency issuer default rating (IDR) and BBB-local currency IDR with outlook for both as “stable.” “The Philippines’ five-year real GDP growth was estimated to be 6.3 percent at the end of 2014, which is far above the ‘BBB’ median of 3.0 percent,” Fitch said. Fitch said its decision to affirm the credit ratings of the Philippines reflects the country’s “strong macroeconomic performance.” Philippine economic managers were quick to welcome the affirmation by the American rating agency. Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the country’s central bank, said Fitch’s decision noted the continued improvement of the Philippines’fundamentals. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “The Philippine economy has reached a level of resiliency that is more comfortable than that of its peers as a result of accumulation of sufficient foreign exchange buffer, sturdy financial system, and price stability. All of these are anchored on prudent monetary policy and effective supervision of banks and other financial institutions,” Tetangco said in a statement released Wednesday. Unlike Tetangco, however, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the country remain to be underrated by the Fitch Ratings but expects the country’s investment Read More …
THE INFORMATION technology and business process management (IT-BPM) industry surpassed its 2014 revenue target of $18 billion, driven by health care information management (HIM), the industry association said.
THE ENERGY Regulatory Commission (ERC) has set generation capacity limits for companies this year in order to discourage abuse of market power in the industry.
IT’S NO SECRET that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) was strongly opposed to our legislators’ bill to increase the tax exemption ceiling on employee bonuses to P82,000 from the previous P30,000. With the law now in place and the BIR having issued the implementing regulations just this week, most people expect the BIR to find ways to make up for the lost revenue, even as it lowered its income projection for 2015.
MANILA, Philippines – Infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) has expressed interest in the government’s airport project, by purchasing bid documents. MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters yesterday the group bought bid documents for the airport projects, but noted that the firm would still need to study which package would be attractive. “We are in the process of assessing which package we would be more interested in,” he said. The government is set to offer for bidding the operation and maintenance (O&M) of six provincial airports worth P128 billion under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) program. To ensure all airports are awarded to competent firms, the government has decided to split the bidding into two packages. Package A covers Iloilo and Bacolod-Silay airports worth P50.66 billion while Package B comprises of the Davao, Laguindingan, and New Bohol (Panglao) airports worth P66.9 billion. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Package A was supposed to include the P10.27 billion Puerto Princesa airport but it was removed until further notice.
LEADING housing developer Vista Land & Lifescapes grew its net profit last year by 13 percent to P5.7 billion, a record high for the Villar-led firm, as the robust property market sustained a double-digit rise in revenues. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Wednesday, the company also stated that its revenues from real estate sales hit a record level of P22.2 billion last year, 11 percent higher than the previous year. “We are very pleased to report that 2014 is another banner year for the company,” said Manuel Paolo Villar, Vista Land’s president and chief executive officer. “Our strategy is paying off and given the strength of the property market, particularly in the housing sector, we will continue to focus on bringing our housing brands to families around the country,” he added. Gross margin for the year was stable at 50.68 percent versus 50.72 percent in 2013. As an indicator of future revenue growth, reservation sales last year went up by 12 percent to P51.71 billion. Vista Land is the holding company of five business units, Brittany, Crown Asia, Camella Homes, Communities Philippines, and Vista Residences. Villar said Vista Land was riding on the back of “rising middle class” in the Philippines. “We are already seeing affordability increasing not just in Metro Manila but also in the provincial areas. Thus, we continue to add to our existing footprint of 34 provinces, 76 cities and municipalities around the country,” he said. “We are also ramping up our Read More …