Maniolas

DBS BANK Ltd. has raised its growth forecast slightly for the Philippine economy this year amid expectations of accelerated state spending and still-robust domestic consumption.

THE 2015 collection target of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is P1.72085 trillion. As part of its effort to achieve the goal, earlier this year the BIR issued Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 3-2015 (RMC No. 3-2015) outlining 27 Priority Programs for 2015.

THE MOST expensive public-private partnership (PPP) deal in the government pipeline is set to be rolled out within the first half of the year, once it secures final approval from President Benigno S. C. Aquino III this month, a Transportation department official said.

MANILA, Philippines – A unit of International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) of gaming and port mogul Enrique Razon has been affected by work stoppages and slowdowns in Portland, Oregon. A company statement said operations of ICTSI Oregon Inc. at the Port of Portland’s Terminal 6 has been hampered by work stoppages and slowdowns by members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).  “The ILWU has escalated its efforts against ICTSI Oregon Inc. as of late, far beyond what other West Coast ports are experiencing,” the company said. ICTSI said ILWU engaged in approximately 36 work stoppages and slowdowns of various types and for varying durations during the Christmas holidays. It added that similar efforts, along with intentional labor shortages, have continued into the first month of 2015.  Last week, ILWU ordered a 12-hour work stoppage commencing at 7 a.m. and some members worked during the morning but walked off the job without notice at 1:15 p.m.  Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1  “Work stoppages like this cause serious hardship to truckers, shippers, and the general public,” ICTSI added. The port operator pointed out that productivity at Terminal 6 continued to fall well below acceptable historical levels.  ILWU labor was producing approximately 24.8 moves per hour prior to the labor dispute that started in June 2012. However, ILWU labor productivity fell 47 percent to 13.2 moves per hour in the last quarter of 2014.  “This level of production is far below industry as well as Terminal Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Consumer technology firm Xurpas Inc. has received the Best Small Cap Equity Deal citation from Hong Kong-based institutional investment magazine Alpha Southeast Asia after holding one of the most successful initial public offerings (IPO) in the Philippines last year. “We tried to strike a healthy balance between retail and institutional orders in the process of determining the price ceiling and final allocation. While we wanted to price our offering aggressively, we also wanted to ensure that investors would draw a good profit from our offer—the result was Xurpas becoming six times oversubscribed and arguably one of the most successful local listings for the year,” said Xurpas president Nix Nolledo. Xurpas, which raised P1.37 billion from its IPO in December last year, won the regional award during the recent Annual Best Deal and Solution Awards 2014. On its maiden trading day, the company’s shares surged nearly 50 percent to P5.95 from its listing price of P3.97. It closed at P12.30 last Friday. “We are glad to receive a citation as early as the first two months of our life as a traded firm. The capital raised from our IPO puts us in an enviable position to take advantage of the growing technology opportunities in the Philippines and the region,” Nolledo said. In less than a month after its IPO, the company acquired a 21 percent stake in a Singapore registered game development studio called Altitude Games to boost its casual games portfolio. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: Read More …