MANILA, Philippines – The peso closed weak against the dollar on Monday, settling at 44.715 from the 44.63 posted on Friday. Total volume transacted at the Philippine Dealing System amounted to $764.6 million, higher than the $696.4 million posted the previous day. The peso opened the week at 44.74.
MANILA, Philippines – British Ambassador to the Philippines Asif Ahmad on Monday said he is looking at a 5-billion-pound (P374 billion) bilateral trade between the United Kingdom (UK) and the Philippines in the next three years. “My minister said I need to make it 5 billion (British pounds) before I leave in three and a half years time. So I need to work really hard,” Ahmad said. Currently, trade between the two countries stands at 1 billion pounds, he said. Ahmad said bBritish companies are looking into investing in retail, energy and infrastructure in the Philippines. ”There is so much more that could come here. That’s why I keep talking about infrastructure. If this country can really get some (infrastructure); and there (are) some big announcements (on infrastructure projects) already. We want more of that. More roads, a serious look at ports, airports, so really we can make it faster to get things that are not here… That requires organization, arrangement of transport,” he said. He added that UK is also in talks with the Philippine government to build bridges in the county. “I think on bridge building, we’re working one very big transaction. It’s a direct discussion we have with the government because the government actually needs to build steel bridges and concrete bridges in damaged areas and other places. And we’re quite involved with that,” he added. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Ahmad said the British Embassy in the Philippines has a business process Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – The peso declined against the dollar midday Monday, settling at 44.745 from the 44.63 posted on Friday. Total volume transacted at the Philippine Dealing System amounted to $461.1 million, higher than the $434.9 million posted the same period the previous day. The peso opened on Monday at 44.74.
MANILA, Philippines – Episodes of profit taking are expected to mark this trading week, a development that will allow the benchmark index to create a stronger base prior to testing the 6,500 level. Investors are advised to selectively accumulate stocks particularly during profit-taking driven pullbacks, analysts said. “We expect the local equities market to trade within range this week, but with a downward bias as investors try to book profits made from the recent rally,” BPI Asset Management said in a market report. It pegged the trading range at 6,350 to 6,550. “Given its sudden surge in the 6,400 level, we expect a minor pullback as the stocks are already at overbought levels,” Abbygayle M. Estrella, an analyst at AB Capital Securities Inc. For Grace Cerdenia, an analyst at brokerage firm 2Trade-Asia.com, the main index is poised to traverse the 6,500 mark, albeit on a more modest tone. Astro del Castillo, managing director of First Grade Finance Inc., said a healthy correction is in the offing following the strong performance of the stock market last week. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Week-on-week, the Philippine Stock Exchange index rallied 1.85 percent or 116.63 points to 6,424.99, marking its third straight weekly gain. It is also the highest closing of the main index since ending at 6,436.49 on Nov. 7, 2013. Investors cheered strong local corporate earnings and the US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s assurance of gradual tapering.BPI Asset Management said foreign investors are beginning to turn Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – Conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc. of tycoon John Gokongwei has allotted P40 billion for its capital expenditures this year. The hefty capital spending will ensure the continuous growth in profits and support the expansion of local and regional operations of JG Summit’s units ahead of the Southeast Asian economic integration, executives said. JG Summit senior vice-president Bach Johann Sebastian said the company pegged its capital expenditures at roughly P40 billion this year. “Last year was bigger, around P50 billion because the bulk of it was the petrochemical facility but that is nearly complete,” Sebastian said. The bulk of the spending will fund the expansion of property arm Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC), aviation unit Cebu Air Inc. and the remaining requirements of the $800-million naphtha cracker plant in Batangas that will start operations in the second half. For this year, JG Summit is banking on new income contribution from power distribution giant Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to boost its profits while core businesses are expected to post further growth. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “In a nutshell, things are fairly good. The economy is robust and most of our businesses are doing well,” Gokongwei said. “Clearly, the Meralco acquisition is the biggest change in the portfolio. The equity stake should probably make it second in terms of contribution to the company after Universal Robina Corp. (URC),” said JG Summit president and chief operating officer Lance Y. Gokongwei. Late in September, the Gokongwei family bought Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – New York-based business process outsourcing (BPO) firm Ubiquity Global Services is expanding its presence in the Philippines as it is set to open a new contact center in Bacolod in Negros Occidental next month. In a statement, Ubiquity founder and president Matt Nyren said the company chose Bacolod for its expansion citing the availability of talent pool. “We’ve been very impressed with the professional talent available in Bacolod and in the Province of Negros Occidental,” he said. The company’s contact center will be the first to open in the province’s Information and Communications Technology complex, the Negros First CyberCentre. The new facility can accommodate more than 1,000 employees. Ubiquity intends to hire more than 200 employees in Bacolod for the new facility over the next 90 days. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Throughout the year, the firm will continue operational expansion. “We look forward to rapid expansion in the CyberCenter, which will be an ideal site for the delivery of our servicing solutions,” Nyren said. Ubiquity has been operating in the Philippines since 2005 through its facility in Bonifacio Global City. The firm offers customer experience management solutions designed to improve user satisfaction while reducing total servicing costs. Its solutions include live customer support services, interactive voice response solutions, multichannel real-time servicing and a variety of physical correspondence services. Aside from the US and the Philippines, Ubiquity also has a facility in El Salvador.
MANILA, Philippines – The mining industry wants to be included in Malacañang’s new action plan to reduce poverty in the country by increasing funding and assistance in 30 priority provinces that need heightened economic activity. In a statement, the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) said the mining industry should not be left out in this approach as a strong minerals development sector is a “critical component for industrialization.” “The Chamber of Mines applauds this approach but we also urge the government not to forget minerals development in its plans as a vital gear in driving the economy forward,” said COMP. During a recent full cabinet meeting, President Aquino ordered the employment of a so-called geographical and surgical approach to poverty reduction that entails increased support for the country’s 30 poorest provinces through job creation, trade facilitation and increasing their resilience to natural disasters. “Of the 30 poorest provinces in the country, at least 10 provinces have significant mineral potential which, to date, remain largely unexplored and untapped,” said COMP. “If these provinces’ mineral resources are properly harnessed, the economic growth that they experience will be transforming,” it added. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 COMP said that a “flourishing” mining industry could provide at least 410,000 jobs by 2018. As provided for in Executive Order No. 79, also known as the New Mining Policy, no new mineral agreements shall be entered into until a law rationalizing the existing revenue sharing scheme between the government and Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – SN Aboitiz Power Corp., a joint venture of SN Power of Norway and the Aboitiz Group’s Aboitiz Power Corp., expects to complete the refurbishment of the 360-megawatt Magat hydropower plant in June, a ranking official said. “We are on the last unit of the Magat refurbishment. We expect that to be running early June or earlier than that. After this unit is completed, the whole Magat facility has gone half-life refurbishment, something which has not been done in the 25 years that the plant has been operating under Napocor so once this unit is done it’s all completely new Magat,” said SN Aboitiz president Emmanuel Rubio. SN Aboitiz Power owns the 360-MWt Magat hydro power plant. It earlier applied with the Energy department for a renewable energy service contract covering the 115 MW Magat expansion. Rubio said that once the DOE approves the service contract for the Magat expansion, the company covered proceed with project implementation. “The application for expansion of Magat is still pending with the DOE,” Rubio said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The expansion, in particular, involves the installation of a pump storage for 115. The company had earlier successfully rehabilitated all four units of the Binga hydro power plant in Itogon, Benguet, which the company won in 2007 with a bid of $325 million. The Binga plant, constructed in 1956 and commissioned in 1960, had been operating for almost 50 years. SNAP-Benguet acquired the facility in 2008, along with Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – Total Corp. on Saturday slashed the prices of its LPG product by P4.50 per kilogram. Effective 6 a.m. Saturday, consumers should expect a P49.50 reduction for a regular 11-kilogram LPG cylinder. Petron has also rolled back the prices of its LPG products. The oil companies said that the price adjustment reflects the drop in international contact prices for the month of March.
TOKYO — The Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange in Tokyo filed for bankruptcy protection Friday and its chief executive said 850,000 bitcoins, worth several hundred million dollars, are unaccounted for. The exchange’s CEO Mark Karpeles appeared before Japanese TV news cameras, bowing deeply. He said a weakness in the exchange’s systems was behind a massive loss of the virtual currency involving 750,000 bitcoins from users and 100,000 of the company’s own bitcoins. That would amount to about $425 million at recent prices. The online exchange’s unplugging earlier this week and accusations it had suffered a catastrophic theft have drawn renewed regulatory attention to a currency created in 2009 as a way to make transactions across borders without third parties such as banks. It remains unclear if the missing bitcoins were stolen, voided by technological flaws or both. “I am sorry for the troubles I have caused all the people,” Karpeles, a Frenchman, said in Japanese at a Tokyo court. Karpeles had not made a public appearance since rumors of the exchange’s insolvency surfaced last month. He said in a web post Wednesday that he was working to resolve Mt. Gox’s problems. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The loss is a giant setback to the currency’s image because its boosters have promoted bitcoin’s cryptography as protecting it from counterfeiting and theft. Bitcoin proponents have insisted that Mt. Gox is an isolated case, caused by the company’s technological failures, and the potential of virtual currencies remains great. Debts at Read More …