May 022014
 
FinanceAsia cites Filinvest as best mid-cap firm

MANILA, Philippines – Filinvest Land, Inc. (FLI), the real estate subsidiary of Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) earned the distinction as the Best Performing Company in Asia under the Mid-Cap category, according to the recently concluded 14th “Asia’s Best Companies” polls conducted by FinanceAsia. The annual polls aim to determine the best-performing companies in the region from the perspective of investors and analysts. Polling was conducted over one month and included Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, India, Singapore, South Korea, and Malaysia. FLI joins the ranks of some of the region’s powerhouse companies, such as Hongkong’s Fortune REIT, Singapore’s CapitaRetail China Trust, and Malaysia’s Hartalega Holdings. “Filinvest Land, Inc. is honored to be recognized as one of the top companies in Asia. Accolades like these inspire us even more to remain steadfast in our commitment to build the Filipino dream. We will continue to keep up with global standards and innovate to better respond to the needs of the Filipino family,” FLI president and CEO Josephine Gotianun Yap said in an issued statement. FLI is one of the country’s leading real estate developers, with almost 50 years of experience under its belt.  As of the end 2013, the company reported a 14-percent net income growth to P4 billion.  Total Ebitda grew 15 percent year-on-year to P5 billion. Real estate revenues came from the core of affordable and middle income segments, accounting for 92 percent of 2013 sales with the contribution of mid-rise and high rise projects led Read More …

May 022014
 
The appetite for ‘known’

I was in a domestic airport waiting to board a local flight. I was prepped to go to one of our premier cities in the south to perform a scheduled whole day speaking event. While seated outside a small eatery, I kid you not, I saw a young lady right across me taking a selfie with her smart phone for the longest time.  I tried counting the different poses she took, and my last count reached 19! Nineteen selfie shots in different poses.She was probably looking for the best shot for her profile picture for her Facebook page. Things like these are not uncommon these days. This got me thinking. Do you call this vanity? I would not pass judgment on the girl. One thing for sure was that with social media being so pervasive in our culture, it is certain that so many people have developed an appetite for being known. I post comments on my Facebook pages and once in a while, there will be one or two nasty reactions–complete with cussing and cursing–against my comments, and to be frank, these comments never made sense to me. While others would thank me for the comments they found to be useful and helpful, these nasty comments were so out of sync with my posts that it got me curious. I opened the profile of the person, and voila….he announced to his own friends and followers that he violently disagreed with me and that I was so “clobbered” with his Read More …

May 022014
 
Follow through buying pulls up bourse

    MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – Follow through buying pulled up the stock market today. The composite index Philippines Stock Exchange index rose by 0. 35 percent or 35. 06 points to close Friday’s session at 6, 742.97, while the broader all share index added by 0. 44 percent or 17.84 points to close session at 4, 068.96. Trading volume reached 1.63 billion shares worth P6.5 billion. Advancers beat decliners 112 to 64 while 37 stocks were unchanged. All six counters were up led by the mining and oil sector. “Corporate earnings over the first quarter which are due out in the days and weeks ahead should provide sufficient impetus to boost the measure further north,” Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. in his daily stock market comment said. The local stock market made a turnaround last Wednesday after falling successively during the past sessions. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Calaycay said, despite a recent visit by the bears, Philippine shares are poised to post its fourth straight monthly gains this year. He said, “the PSEI tested the 6,700-resistance in Wednesday’s trades, consistent with our expectations as momentum from the previous day’s rebound off a four-session slide spilled over.” The analyst warned that the real emerging concern globally however is the Chinese economy. A report on manufacturing activity for April is projected to suggest another pick-up even as Japan’s industrial and South Korea’s factory outputs missed forecast. Stocks in the 30 company index were mostly up. Read More …

May 012014
 
LinkedIn posts 1Q loss as execs focus on long term

In this Monday, May 9, 2011 file photo, LinkedIn Corp., the professional networking Web site, displays its logo outside of headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. LinkedIn began 2014 with its largest quarterly loss since going public as the online professional networking service ramped up its investments in projects aimed at attracting more users on the lookout for better jobs and career advice. AP/Paul Sakuma SAN FRANCISCO — LinkedIn began the year with its largest quarterly loss since going public as the online professional networking service ramped up its investments in projects aimed at attracting more users on the lookout for better jobs and career advice. Despite the setback, the first-quarter results announced Thursday surpassed the analyst projections that sway investors. LinkedIn has cleared Wall Street’s financial hurdles in all 12 of its quarters as a public company, a stretch dating back to May 2011. Nevertheless, LinkedIn Corp. has fallen out of favor with investors amid concerns about the company’s rising expenses and slowing revenue growth. Management issued a forecast indicating those trends will extend into the current quarter ending in June. LinkedIn’s stock shed $7.02, or 4.4 percent, to $154.20 in Thursday’s extended trading. The shares are about 40 percent below their all-time high of $257.56 reached last September. LinkedIn’s stock nearly doubled in value last year, enabling CEO Jeff Weiner to reap a nearly $170 million windfall by exercising some of the stock options he has accumulated since joining the company in 2008. Despite the stock-price drop, LinkedIn remains intent on Read More …

May 012014
 
Young EU members celebrate decade in rich club

Cars drive through a soundproof tunnel covering a highway in Warsaw, Poland. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz) WARSAW, Poland — It has been a time of monumental change for several former Soviet satellite states that joined the European Union 10 years ago: open markets and the free movement of people has spurred economic growth that at times dwarfed worldwide trends. The goods they produced reached millions of new consumers. But it also left some feeling they threw away the yoke of an overbearing Moscow for an unaccountable Brussels. On May 1, 2004, in its biggest single expansion, the EU took in 10 countries with some 74 million people. Seven entrants were either one-time Soviet republics or once part of the Warsaw Pact: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia. The others were Malta, Cyprus and Slovenia. In countries like Poland, a decade in one of the world’s most exclusive clubs has brought galloping growth, even at time when many other parts of the union were beset by a crippling financial crisis. “Poland and other countries in the region seized this chance offered to them by history and used it well,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said earlier this week as he presented a report on his country’s decade in the EU. EU accession, the report said, helped Poland increase exports to EU partners, brought funds to help modernize roads, bridges, railways and waste-water treatment, and gave greater access for Poles to schools and jobs in more-developed countries to the Read More …

May 012014
 
BCDA offers prime lot in Global City

MANILA, Philippines – State-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is set to bid out the lease and development of a prime property covering 5,000 square meters (sqm) in the Bonifacio South area in Taguig City. BCDA executive vice president Aileen Zosa said in a statement yesterday the property to be put to auction, the Lawton Corporate Center Lot,  is located along Lawton Avenue and is between the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority and McKinley West, a joint-venture project of BCDA and Megaworld Corp. “We are optimistic and expect this property to draw a lot of interest from top real estate developers because of its strategic location and proximity to various high-end commercial and residential areas like Bonifacio Global City, McKinley, Forbes Park, and Newport City, including the NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) III,” she said. She added that the plan to widen Lawton Avenue from the existing dual two lane road to a dual three lane road to address the increased traffic volume would augur well for the planned development in the Lawton Corporate Center Lot. BCDA business development manager Arrey Perez said the firm is finalizing the Terms of Reference and other bid documents for the property. “We plan to officially start the public bidding process by the first or second week of May,” he said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 He said an invitation for the bidding of the property would be published in newspapers. The BCDA plans to lease the property Read More …

May 012014
 
Belle eyes control of Pacific Online

MANILA, Philippines – Belle Corp., the leisure and gaming arm of the SM Group, plans to further cement control in an online lottery system provider by securing a majority stake. The move will firm up Belle’s commitment in Pacific Online Systems Corp., which is pursuing an aggressive expansion program after hostilities in Mindanao and natural disasters in Visayas disrupted operations last year. “It would be nice to own 50.1 percent so we can consolidate (Pacific Online in the books),” said Belle vice-chairman Willy Ocier. “When you have a company that is gaming-related, it would make sense for us to increase our exposure to it,” he said. Belle currently owns 43 percent of Pacific Online, the online lottery system provider of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in the Visayas and Mindanao. Early this year, Abacus Consolidated Resources & Holdings Inc. trimmed its stake in Pacific Online to seven percent from 15 percent, with Belle buying the block to increase its shares to 43 percent of outstanding shares. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Ocier said Belle already has the time to pursue acquisitions following the completion of negotiations last year for a $1.3-billion integrated casino project. Belle is the builder of the $1.3-billion City of Dreams Manila complex in the Manila Bay reclamation area. Macau-based casino giant Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd., for its part, leases the property and will operate the casino. For this year, Pacific Online is focusing on recovery and expansion efforts. “We are busy Read More …