Aboitiz Group sees strong Q3 results amid its Great Transformation

The end of the third quarter is such an exciting period. There is much to look back on and yet still several months of potential before the close of the year. Nine months into the Aboitiz Group’s year of Great Transformation and there are countless stories and accomplishments to share. With innovation and a renewed entrepreneurial mindset driving development, Aboitiz is truly on its way to becoming the Philippines’ first Techglomerate.

“As we move closer toward wrapping up a transformative year for the Aboitiz Group, our transition into the Philippines’ first techglomerate has much to show for, not just in the latest figures of our financial performance, but more importantly in the significant cultural transformation currently taking place among our team members and the ways they work together. We will continue to invest substantially and strategically in innovation, but it has always been our investment in people that have yielded the most returns,” said Aboitiz Group President and CEO Sabin M. Aboitiz.

During the Q3 media briefing, Aboitiz Group executives will highlight stories of transformation and community achievements. They will also hint towards what the public can expect to see as the Group continues to shape the future of industry.

The briefing will feature the following panelists: AboitizPower President and CEO Manny Rubio, UnionBank Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Toto Hilado, Pilmico and Gold Coin Group President and CEO Tristan Aboitiz, AboitizLand President and CEO Dave Rafael, Aboitiz InfraCapital President and CEO Cosette Canilao, Republic Cement CEO Roman Menz and Aboitiz Equity Ventures CFO Dmi Lozano.

AboitizPower

For AboitizPower, their Great Transformation journey coincides with their purpose of Transforming Energy for a Better World by powering progress and sustainability nationwide.

By 2030, AboitizPower is working to have a 50:50 balance between thermal and renewable energy (RE) for a total generation capacity of 9,200 MW. At present, Cleanergy, the firm’s RE solutions brand, advances businesses and communities by supplying them with energy derived from run-of-river, large hydro, solar and geothermal sources.

In addition to these indigenous energy resources, AboitizPower will soon add wind power to its renewable portfolio. Recently, the company signed a joint venture agreement with Mainstream Renewable Power to build a 90-MW onshore wind project in Libmanan, Camarines Sur.  The partnership harnesses the company’s local expertise in RE and Mainstream’s specialty in RE development.

As a leader in renewable energy generation, AboitizPower has become the partner of choice for businesses who also advocate for  a sustainable future. Last month, the company  was tapped by outsourcing firm Teleperformance, to power the latter’s Bacolod and Sucat offices with renewable energy. 

These partnerships show how AboitizPower contributes to the development of a progressive and sustainable nation. Growing from its core business of generation and distribution, AboitizPower will soon be realizing the future of a smart ecosystem with like-minded partners. Down the line, the company intends to explore projects involving smart homes and businesses, networks and infrastructure, and even sustainable transport systems. 

UnionBank

The Aboitiz-led Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) is well on its way to its aspiration of becoming a Great Retail Bank. The recent acquisition of Citi’s consumer business in the country, completed last August 1, 2022, has accelerated UnionBank’s aspirations to grow its retail segment.

The acquired consumer business from Citi has brought in Php 98 billion in assets, including Php 65 billion in credit card receivables and personal loans. It also included Php 67 billion in deposits with a CASA ratio of 89%. The Citi consumer business has approximately 1 million customers across its different products. Since the announcement of the deal, customer engagement has remained high with <1% attrition for depositors and zero attrition for loans.

A total of 1,500 former employees of Citi, including 100% of the leadership team of the consumer business, joined UnionBank. With integration activities running smoothly and on schedule, UnionBank has started to see the contributions of the Citi consumer business acquisition in Q3 2022.

Net Income for the quarter rose 17% to Php 4.0 billion bringing year-to-date performance to Php 10.1 billion. Net revenues excluding trading gains increased by 37% year-on-year to Php 36 billion. Net interest margin also increased to 4.9% from 4.6% in the same period last year coming from the expansion of earning assets and higher CASA ratio.

Aboitiz InfraCapital

In line with the Great Transformation of the Group, Aboitiz InfraCapital (AIC) has continued its development of smart and sustainable industrial anchored cities while also recently diversifying into a new business in the digital infrastructure space. 

AIC’s Economic Estates have been widely recognized and awarded here and abroad for their leadership in industrial anchored mixed-use development as well as sustainable industrial development.  Located in Luzon and Visayas, these Economic Estates are being continuously transformed by AIC through the introduction of new product lines, sustainability initiatives and soon, through smart city features aligned with the Aboitiz Group’s transformation efforts. 

LIMA Estates in Batangas is setting the standard as the country’s best-selling and largest privately owned industrial-anchored estate with a 5-star BERDE-District Certification. At the recently concluded PropertyGuru Philippines Property Awards, LIMA received several distinctions: Best Industrial Development, Best Green Development, and Best CBD Development. At the same ceremony, AIC was awarded the top plum as Best Industrial Developer, with a Special Recognition in Sustainable Design and Construction. Lima Estate was also recently named as a finalist in the World Green Building Council’s Asia Pacific Leadership in Green Building Awards. Meanwhile, at the West Cebu Estate in Balamban, Cebu, plans for its own commercial business district are underway, with the first phase set to start construction by 2023. AIC is hoping to expand its footprint in other parts of the country and be able to replicate the success of its thriving Estates business in Batangas and Cebu. 

To help boost the country’s digital ecosystem, AIC has diversified into data centers with their recent partnership with EdgeConneX, the pioneer in global hyperlocal to hyperscale data center solutions, based in the United States. The joint venture will address the rising data usage in the Philippines by developing an advanced data center platform to house cloud service providers’ information technology equipment, enabling them to better support the Philippine market. The first two data centers focus on the Metro Manila area, with a connectivity-focused facility adjacent to the local internet exchange  and a secondary hyperscale campus facility also located in the greater Manila area. This marks AIC’s second pillar in digital infrastructure after Unity, which already operates 500  macro towers and small cell poles across the Philippines. In addition, it has 200 macro towers that are already in various stages of development.

Aboitiz Construction

As the construction arm of the Aboitiz Group, Aboitiz Construction has been growing its presence in heavy and light industries, infrastructures and maintenance services to ultimately stimulate economic growth for the communities they operate in and beyond.

Aboitiz Construction completed construction of a 6,000 sq. meter storage warehouse for La Filipina Uy Gongco Corp. in Iloilo City. Through the project, the company did its part to contribute to improving the logistics of world-class agricultural products traded within the Philippines and throughout Southeast Asia. Additionally, it also completed the steel structure, mechanical, piping, insulation, painting and fireproofing works for a petrochemical plant in Batangas City owned by JG Summit.

Recently, Aboitiz Construction made it to the inaugural 2023 list of The Philippines’ Best Employers drawn up by the Philippine Daily Inquirer in collaboration with Statista. This is in line with the company’s strategy to develop talents and create a future-ready workplace.

Looking towards the sustainable future of the industry and the environment, Aboitiz Construction partnered with Envirotech Waste Recycling Inc. to better manage plastic waste across all its project sites nationwide. This is a step-up initiative in line with prior commitments towards environmental sustainability, with a Policy Against Single-Use Plastics previously implemented.

AboitizLand

AboitizLand continues to innovate ways to lead more Filipinos home as it aligns with the Great Transformation of the Aboitiz Group.

Leveraging property technology has proven to be a key strategy for the property business unit. In construction, AboitizLand has introduced the use of precast panel technology to build homes faster, stronger and more durable at Seafront Residences in San Juan, Batangas and The Villages at Lipa in Batangas. This innovation will ensure that the homes robustly grow in value for the benefit of homeowners and investors. 

Since its launch in 2017, Seafront Residences’ value has appreciated by 295% and continues to grow as a vibrant community as more and more people are opting for a seaside lifestyle as working from anywhere becomes the new normal. 

Additionally, Meadow Village, the most premium phase of The Villages at Lipa, Batangas, was launched this October, following strong market reception for its first two villages, Sierra and Brook. The 12-hectare premium residential lot is expected to generate Php 1.82 billion in sales revenue from over 170 units.

AboitizLand’s residential projects have won several major awards during The Outlook: Philippine Real Estate Awards including ‘The Developer of the Year for Visayas and Mindanao.’ Seafront Residences won ‘Best Premium House of the Year in Luzon’ and Amoa won ‘Best Affordable Housing Development in VisMin’ for the second year in a row. AboitizLand was also highly commended for its Seller Support System that made contactless home buying possible. Pristina North was also highly commended as Best Premium House for Visayas and Mindanao. 

Amoa has also won ‘Best Housing Development in Visayas’ for the second consecutive time at the recent PropertyGuru Philippine Property Awards and was highly commended in two other categories.

With the goal of digitizing the end-to-end customer experience, AboitizLand has invested in innovations such as the Vecino App. The backbone of the digitally-enabled contactless home buying service that AboitizLand is championing, the proprietary app is constantly evolving as systems become more integrated and services more easily accessible for its homeowners. Another innovation is the AboitizLand Vecino Support Hub which provides digitized after-sales services. This features an omnichannel support system that allows AboitizLand to meet their customers in their platform of choice.

Pilmico

The renewed entrepreneurial spirit of the Great Transformation has pushed the food subsidiary of the Aboitiz Group, Pilmico and Gold Coin Group (Pilmico), to reach further than before. Across both business units, namely food and their agribusiness, they are innovating and thriving.

Consumers are becoming more and more familiar with ‘The Good Meat’ (TGM) brand through its steadfast supermarket and store expansion. There are currently two retail meat stores with more branches across Metro Manila to be opened by year-end. TGM fresh cuts and ready-to-cook products are available in supermarkets in Metro Manila, Pangasinan, La Union, Cavite, Batangas and Laguna, and soon to be available in the Visayas region.

Meanwhile, Pilmico’s pet food ventures Maxime, Tommy, and Woofy have found great success on e-commerce platforms in the Philippines as Pilmico took advantage of the digitally-enabled trading landscape. They have commissioned their pet food line in Vietnam, which makes their pet food products available in Vietnam and Malaysia.

Quick to capture demand and opportunities, Pilmico has increased its facilities and capacities across the region. A new breeder and nursery farm in Nueva Ecija was completed this October to support and augment swine production in the country amid threats of harmful diseases. The new facility has a capacity of 2,500 in sow level and can produce up to 4.7 million kilograms of pork meat annually to meet growing demand while maintaining biosecurity measures to battle external threats. For its feeds businesses, Pilmico has increased production capacity in the Philippines while also establishing new feedmills in Yunnan, China and Long An, Vietnam set to be completed by 2023.