Ayala Braces for Profit Drop as Consumption Grinds to a Halt

(Bloomberg) -- Ayala Corp. expects profit to fall this year as a lockdown on the Philippines’ main island shuts businesses and halts consumption in a region that accounts for 70% of the economy, according to Chairman and CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel.

The nation’s oldest conglomerate will preserve cash and shore up its balance sheet, Zobel said, when asked if major projects could be delayed. At the parent level, Ayala has roughly $400 million in cash and $1 billion in committed as well as ordinary credit lines, CFO TG Limcaoco said.

“The important thing is to have liquidity and the balance sheet to ride this out,” Zobel told Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin and Yvonne Man on Tuesday. The conglomerate will “remain solvent and stable during this period of time and help employees and the ecosystem around us.”

More than half of the 2.4 billion pesos package to aid workers and business partners during the lockdown will be for rent condonation for merchants of Ayala’s malls. Ayala Corp. reported a net income of 35.3 billion pesos in 2019, up 11% from a year earlier.

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• Bank of the Philippine Islands is preparing for an increase in non-performing loans. Consumer and corporate loans are expected to decline, but deposits may continue to grow.
• Manila Water Co. sees no problems in water supply, Zobel said, citing better weather conditions.
• Globe Telecom Inc. will support increased broadband demand as people work from home, even as building more cell sites will have to wait until after the lockdown.

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