Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – Bronzeoak Philippines Inc. is pushing back the completion of the first of its three biomass power plants in Negros Island in the second quarter next year as it reconfigured boilers and retested the feedstock in the area. The company is working on three biomass power projects in Negros located in San Carlos, Manapla and La Carlota totaling 70 megawatts (MW) in capacity, with the International Finance Corp. (IFC) providing $161 million in funding, Bronzeoak director Don Mario Dia said. “We are finishing our first of its kind biomass plant hopefully by second quarter next year. First quarter was our original target,” he said, referring to the San Carlos project. The delay was due to the reconfiguration of the plants’ boilers since the company increased the capacity of the plants, Dia said. “We had to reconfigure the boilers. Originally, it was at 18 MW then we expanded it to 19.99 MW, close to 20 MW. So when we did that, we resized the boiler,” he said. Since the boilers were resized, the company had to retest the available feedstock in the area, Dia said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “The other [reason for the delay] is we retested the fuel source. Will we do pure sugar cane trash or we will mix it with others so we will have a back up of fuel source, like wood chips, coconut husks, rice husks or napier grass. So we went back to redesigning of the boiler Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) is set to submit to the government a unified position paper that would likely buck the proposed higher excise taxes to be slapped on new vehicles. “They’re crafting a position paper right now. An industry position on the argument that it would really affect industry sales. If sales go down, it is not only us, we also have a lot of downstream suppliers that would be affected,” Mitsubishi Motors Philippines assistant vice president for vehicle sales group Dante Calma said yesterday on the sidelines of the launch of the company’s auto financing business. Calma said the proposal to increase excise taxes on vehicles would likely drag down the growth of the country’s booming automotive industry. “I’m sure it will happen (slowdown of sales). Anything price related impacts immediately on car sales. For example, a P600,000 car. If you add the proposed excise tax, the increase is about P60,000 to P80,000. So if you have a budget of P600,000 then you go back to buying a second-hand car probably,” he said. “With what the government is proposing even the entry-level cars,which now I think the tax is only two percent, they plan to bring it up to five percent. Our customers for these low-end vehicles, they are not really rich, some are working on call centers and have a small family. So even a small addition to cost they value it,” Calma added. Calma cited Thailand as an Read More …

Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. (PCPPI) reported a net income of P700 million in the nine months to September, up five percent on the back of strong sales as the company introduced new products. File photo MANILA, Philippines – Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. (PCPPI) reported a net income of P700 million in the nine months to September, up five percent on the back of strong sales as the company introduced new products. In the third quarter alone, net income grew 23 percent to P200 million. Net of start-up losses of the snacks business, net income reached P800 million in the nine-month period and P200 million in the third quarter, equating to a growth of 14 percent and 42 percent versus year-ago, respectively.  Sales revenues reached P26.8 billion, representing a year-on-year growth of 13 percent. In the third quarter, sales revenues rose 14 percent to P8.7 billion. Revenue growth continued to outpace volume growth spurred by a strong focus on new product initiatives and revenue management, said PCPPI president Furqan Ahmed Syed. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “We are delighted by the fantastic results achieved in third quarter. This is another show of confidence by our consumers on our world-class product portfolio. Our consumers loved product innovations and campaigns such as Mountain Dew’s ‘Dewmocracy,’ Lipton’s ‘Positivitea’ and Tropicana’s ‘Straight to the Good Stuff,’ Syed said. Cost of goods sold went up 15 percent for the nine-month period and up 14 percent in the third quarter primarily due to Read More …

After the announcement of new appointments in management, PLDT Inc. will start the selection process for a new CEO to lead the digital pivot by second-half of next year to be able to name the new head no later than 2018. File photo MANILA, Philippines – After the announcement of new appointments in management, PLDT Inc. will start the selection process for a new CEO to lead the digital pivot by second-half of next year to be able to name the new head no later than 2018. As PLDT is hoping to see better performance in terms of core earnings by next year, the company is bent on lowering capital expenditures and having greater scrutiny on spending to ensure investments would generate revenues. “I would hope that we could find a CEO in the second-half and I could let go by either end-2017 or no later than early 2018,” PLDT chairman, president and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters. Pangilinan who assumed the position of president and CEO of PLDT after the retirement of Napoleon Nazareno on Dec.31 of last year, said he hopes the search process could start in the second-half of next year with the new management team on board by January next year. Earlier this week, PLDT announced leadership changes and appointments as part of the company’s ongoing digital transformation pivot. Pangilinan said PLDT would need a new CEO who would have the fortitude to take the job in leading the company’s new digital thrust. Business ( Read More …