MANILA, Philippines – Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) posted a massive 42% drop in its earnings for the 1st quarter of 2020 on the back of one-off losses and the coronavirus pandemic.

AEV told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, April 30, that its net income dropped to P2 billion in the first 3 months of the year from the P3.5 billion it recorded a year ago.

AEV said it incurred foreign exchange losses from dollar-denominated assets during the period.

Without these one-off losses, core net income for the 1st quarter of 2020 was P2.3 billion, a 41% decrease year-on-year.

AEV earlier reported that it trimmed its capital expenditures for 2020 from P73 billion to P47 billion.

Among its business units, only UnionBank posted positive growth.

UnionBank earned P2.6 billion, up by 22%. It contributed P1.3 billion to AEV, 23% higher than last year. (READ: Pandemic prompts UnionBank to jack up loan loss buffer by 750%)

“The strong showing of our banking and financial services and food units have helped shore up our operational performance, underscoring the resilience provided by a diversified portfolio. This same resilience will also help us face headwinds from [COVID-19],” said Sabin Aboitiz, AEV president and chief executive officer.

AboitizPower’s net income for the 1st quarter was at P2.1 billion, 43% lower than the same period last year. It contributed P1.6 billion to AEV, 43% lower than a year ago.

“We will continue to look for opportunities to keep the country’s economy moving as we carefully evaluate our business strategy,” Aboitiz said.

AEV’s non-listed food subsidiaries – Pilmico Foods, Pilmico Animal Nutrition, and Pilmico International – contributed P60 million, 56% lower than the P137 million recorded in the same period in 2019. 

Pilmico International recorded net income of P297 million, a 116% increase from the same period last year due to higher income contribution of Gold Coin Management Holdings.

However, gains from Pilmico International were outweighed by a net loss for Pilmico’s local subsidiaries.

Aboitiz Land, also a non-listed subsidiary, reported a net loss of P110 million compared to the P44-million loss a year ago.

It contributed P508 million in revenues, 24% lower than revenue contributions from the same period in 2019. 

“This decrease was primarily due to higher forfeitures and lower construction progress resulting from the eruption of Taal Volcano and enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to COVID-19,” AEV said.

Republic Cement and Building Materials’ income contribution to AEV for the 1st quarter of 2020 amounted to P61 million, versus the P32-million loss recorded last year.

Revenues were strong in January and February, but gains were tempered by the slowdown in construction activities in March due to the ECQ in Luzon.

Power accounted for 55% of the total income contributions from AEV’s strategic business units, followed by banking and financial services (46%), food (2%), infrastructure (1%), and real estate (-4%). – Rappler.com