Economy – Page 536

Exchange-traded funds await SEC approval

Economy

Feb 072013

Exchange-traded funds await SEC approval

MANILA, Philippines – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has yet to approve the rules that will govern the listing of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). “Still under discussion,” SEC commissioner Ma. Juanita E. Cueto said in a text message when asked if corporate regulators have approved the guidelines. The SEC was scheduled to meet on Feb. 6 to deliberate on the proposed listing rules for the new investment instrument. An ETF is defined as a security that monitors the index, a commodity of assets like an index fund, but trades like a normal stock in an exchange. Late last month, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) submitted to the SEC its proposed rules that will govern the listing and trading of ETFs after it gathered public comments. At least three firms, First Metro Investment Corp. of the Metrobank Group, Sy-led BDO Unibank Inc. and Bank of the Philippine Islands of the Ayala conglomerate have expressed plans to offer ETFs. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 PSE president and CEO Hans B. Sicat earlier said ETFs will provide several advantages and investment options to investors including liquidity, especially for those who cannot directly access specific sectors in the market due to a country’s specific regulatory environment. The creation of an ETF would allow investors more investment options aside from the existing stocks in the market. The proposed ETF listing rules, which is governed by the general ETF guidelines issued by the SEC in October, provides for transparency and investor safeguards Read More …

Big business can help fight poverty

Economy

Feb 072013

UP economist Noel de Dios has a good idea on how to get more inclusive growth: get big business deeply involved in the fight against poverty. Since the bulk of our poverty stricken population are in the rural areas, get big business involved in agriculture. Noel, in a recent Business World column, argues his point: “A leap in productivity and incomes among today’s poor can come only by linking them with those who already possess exceptional access to knowledge and resources. If one speaks of agriculture, for example, this cannot be done without inducing major corporate businesses – those already inserted in national and global value-chains – to enter agriculture in a big way and include the poor in their plans.” Indeed, all the Corporate Social Responsibility activities of the large corporations are only self serving feel good press releases unless the outcome makes dramatic transformations in the lives of those at the bottom of the pyramid. As Noel puts it, “only large infusions of capital, technology, and market intelligence from the private sector can transform the conditions of the poor today.” But Noel knows things are always easier said than done specially in this country. Thus, he points out that “for all this to occur, difficult questions must first be answered: What policies and regulations hinder the entry of private capital and technology in agriculture? (Here one must wonder what hinders conglomerates like Metro Pacific, San Miguel, SM, and Ayala from becoming more involved in commercial agriculture rather than Read More …

P15.5-B NAIA expressway project: Bidders given more time to prepare offers

Economy

Feb 072013

P15.5-B NAIA expressway project: Bidders given more time to prepare offers

MANILA, Philippines – The government has postponed anew the bidding for the P15.5-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport expressway project to give interested companies more time to finalize their bid documents. Cosette Canilao, executive director of the PPP Center, told reporters on the sidelines of the groundbreaking of the Harbor Link project at the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) that the deadline for the submission of bids for the NAIA expressway project has been moved to April 8 instead of Feb. 24. Canilao said the deadline was extended upon request of the pre-qualified bidders for more time to prepare their documents in light of the holidays during the Holy Week at the end of March. “They needed more time,” she told reporters. The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has set the deadline for the submission of bids on Feb. 26 while the notice of award has been scheduled in April. The government originally set the bidding in June 2012 but postponed it to this year to give interested parties more time to finalize their bids. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Canilao said four groups that prequalified for the bidding include diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp., Metro Pacific Investments Corp. of Hong Kong’s First Pacific, publicly-listed conglomerate Ayala Corp., and Indian-owned M/S IL and FS Transportation Network. Prior to pre-qualification, a total of 13 firms including DM Consunji, EEI Corp., Megawide Construction Corp., Macquarie Capital Securities, EGIS Projects, Alloy MTD Philippines, J.E. Manalo Construction, Daelim Philippines and Read More …

Phl stocks buck regional downtrend

Economy

Feb 072013

MANILA, Philippines – Local share prices rebounded yesterday, bucking the cautious trading in Asian markets ahead of a European Central Bank’s policy meeting. The Philippine Stock Exchange index rose 0.45 or 28.64 points to close at 6,459.99, recovering from a profit taking spree a day ago as investors picked second liners. The broader all shares index gained 0.61 percent or 24.75 points to 4,062.70. Investors reallocated investments in favor of second liners that might benefit from the continued low interest rate environment and market liquidity, Freya Natividad, investment analyst at brokerage firm 2Trade-Asia.com, said in a phone interview. Local fundamentals shielded the country from worries in neighboring markets, Natividad said. In Asia, the trading day was marked by cautiousness as investors waited for the results of the ECB policy meeting. Investors also watched out for indications on the economic growth of the European economic bloc. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.93 percent or 106.68 points to 11,357.07 while the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 0.4 percent or 79.93 points to 23,177. On Wednesday in Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average inched up 0.05 percent or 7.22 points to 13,986.52 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index barely rose 0.05 percent or 0.83 points to 1,512.12. The market also awaited the ECB policy meeting.

Top 7 BYOD enterprise network concerns identified

Economy

Feb 072013

Top 7 BYOD enterprise network concerns identified

Blue Coat executives Albert Kuo, Vice President, Asia Pacific Field Operations of Blue Coat Systems Singapore (left) and Jonathan Andersen, Director for Product Marketing in Asia Pacific, during a press conference at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City, Philippines. TAM NODA MANILA, Philippines — US-based Web security company Blue Coat Inc. on Thursday identified seven bring-your-own-device (BYOD) traffic disruptors that cause IT nightmares among enterprise networks. Blue Coat referred to activities and content sites that take up valuable Wide Area Network (WAN) and internet bandwidth and disrupt the performance of mission-critical enterprise applications. Jonathan Andersen, Blue Coat’s Director for Product Marketing in Asia Pacific, reported recreational web browsing and multimedia traffic caused by the use of applications on personal BYOD smartphones and tablets take up between 30 percent and 60 percent of the total bandwidth. The “always on” connectivity was also cited to drive greater threat risk. “Employees don’t have much security on their phones. They spend an average of 1.5 hours of web browsing using their mobile devices,” said Andersen, noting the users’ vulnerability to phishing attacks. The seven identified BYOD concerns are: BYOD device OS updates and upgrades; app downloads; photo and video uploads and downloads; BYOD backup to cloud storage or a company-issued laptop or desktop; watching recreational video on YouTube; Facetime and Skype video/audio conferencing; and guest wireless. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 On OS updates and upgrades issues alone, Blue Coat said a single BYOD device can easily overwhelm network bandwidth with Read More …

Globe tells PLDT to remove illegal attachments

Economy

Feb 072013

Globe tells PLDT to remove illegal attachments

MANILA, Philippines –Globe Telecom earlier has asked the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) to remove the illegal PLDT outside plant (OSP) facilities attached to Globe OSP facilities specifically in the areas of Batangas and Baguio. Globe set a February 8 ultimatum for PLDT to remove the illegal attachments or else Globe itself would remove the attachments without any liability to Globe. Yoly Crisanto, Globe Head of Corporate Communications, said PLDT shall also pay Globe for the cost of the removal including any damages that may arise on its facilities. “Our Field Operations teams found PLDT OSP facilities attached to our facilities without our permission,” Crisanto said. “We have requested that PLDT remove the said illegal attachments in order to protect our own facilities from unnecessary hazards.” Aside from the areas of Baguio and Bauan, Batangas, Globe also found illegal attachments on their facilities by Digitel in San Pedro, Laguna. “This has been an ongoing concern for quite a while, and we have raised this issue many times before with PLDT contractors,” Crisanto said, adding that she is expecting PLDT’s immediate action on the issue.

Next-generation HP ProLiant Servers, the world’s most self-sufficient servers

Economy

Feb 062013

Next-generation HP ProLiant Servers, the world’s most self-sufficient servers

Veronica A. Escalante, Category Manager, Industry Standard Servers (ISS), HP Philippines, is excited about the road ahead and the future of server technology. In this interview, Veronica shares details on the recently launched HP ProLiant Generation 8 (Gen8) servers, the world’s most self-sufficient servers, and says that the new line of servers have laid the foundation for multiple generations of server technology to follow. Q: What are the current challenges that enterprises face when it comes to server technology? A: Today, the demand for data and content is growing at a breathtaking rate and traditional server infrastructure has become a constrained resource that is impacting business growth for enterprises. The volume and frequency of server management tasks, error alerts and installations are increasing expenses, resource allocation and complexity in the infrastructure, costing organizations nearly $157 billion in 2012, according to IDC. Consider these numbers: · Companies spend on average $24 million over three years on manual operations just to support servers; · Growing server energy and facilities expenses cost companies up to $29 million over three years; · And, unplanned downtime costs clients approximately $10 million an hour. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Frankly, those are costs are unsustainable in the long run. And at HP, we sent a wakeup call to the industry with multi-year initiatives. We were able to foresee ‘cloud’ and the ‘information explosion’ coming and we embarked on a three-phase plan to transform server technology and redefine data center economics. Q: Project Read More …

Philex renews call for MGB to lift order

Economy

Feb 062013

Philex renews call for MGB to lift order

MANILA, Philippines – Philex Mining Corp. is prodding the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to immediately allow it to temporarily resume operations to enable it to fill the void in the compromised tailings pond no 3 of its copper-gold mine in Padcal, Benguet before the onset of the rainy season. Philex earlier petitioned the MGB to be allowed to temporarily resume operations to produce fresh tailings to fill the void and increase the stability of the tailings pond. The process called beaching was recommended by the foreign consultants hired by Philex for the rehabilitation of the tailings pond. Because the tailings pond was designed to hold solids, 3.5 million tons of fresh tailings should be dumped into the ponds to push away the water from the dam. This will create what is called a beach. It will take about three to four months to produce the volume of silt needed for beaching. “We are requesting the MGB to lift the suspension to enable Philex to undergo rehabilitation before the rains come,” Philex president and chief operating officer Eulalio Austin Jr. said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Another option to fill the void in the tailings pond is to gather the spilled tailings from the contaminated waterways. However, this would be expensive and time consuming because the company would still have to install additional infrastructure such as roads and pumps in the mine site. Libby Ricafort, Philex vice president for operations and Padcal resident manager, said the Read More …

P-Noy’s birthday gift wish

Economy

Feb 062013

After reaching another record high mark, the Philippine stock market’s performance seems to be for real, and not just a passing fancy that can be attributed to the inflow of “hot” money, meaning foreign investments in the local stock market by speculators. In less than two months, the local bourse breached its high point 15 times, now less than 30 index points away from the 6,500-level. It seems that P-Noy will get his birthday wish this year, though not exactly on his birth date come February 8. The push, according to my insider friend, is coming from the low interest rates accruing many financial instruments. And the Philippine equity market, being one of the most bullish in the region, is attracting solid capital. The influx of new investors, many by retirees, in the stock market is also causing blue chips to rise in value. We’re seeing successive increases in the stock prices of group member and affiliated companies of SM, San Miguel, Ayala, and PLDT, as well as real estate firms. With the Philippines just a hop away from getting its investment grade status from international credit rating agencies, expect the bullishness in our stock market to continue, and perhaps even cause the index to rise over the 7,000 mark within the year. Consumer-led businesses as well as those involved in real estate are now crediting investor confidence as a primary reason for their upbeat view of 2013 and the medium-term. There’s money going into Philippine business ventures now, a Read More …

Globe's net income falls in 2012

Economy

Feb 062013

Ernest L. Cu, President and CEO of Globe Telecom Inc. briefs the media of the company’s 4th quarter and full year performance in 2012. TAM NODA MANILA, Philippines — Globe Telecom announced Wednesday the company’s consolidated net income after tax was down 30 percent from P9.8 billion in 2011 to P6.9 billion in 2012. Globe cited accelerated depreciation charges related to its $700 million network modernization program as the reason for the profit decline. The company’s full year consolidated EBITDA was at P35.0 billion, or down by about P93 million from P35.1 billion in 2011. Globe said incremental revenues were re-invested in additional marketing and subsidy expenses to acquire new postpaid subscribers as well as defend market position through various brand-building initiatives. Operating expenses also included charges for continued investments in network infrastructure, costs to maintain an expanded 2G, 3G, and broadband networks, and charges incurred as the Company undergoes its network and IT modernization programs. Ernest L. Cu, President and CEO of Globe Telecom Inc., said that given the increasingly competitive environment, Globe is hopeful that the gains it has made in terms of brand building and differentiation through customer experience will tide the company through what it describes as “most critical period” completing the network and IT modernization program and undertaking related transition efforts. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “These initiatives will enable us to reinforce our industry position as a formidable challenger and allow us to continue delivering superior value to our stakeholders Read More …

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