2011 profits of listed firms down 1.9%

MANILA, Philippines – Combined net earnings of listed firms decreased by 1.9% to P429.96 billion in 2011 from P438.09 billion in 2010, dragged by lack of non-recurring gains among Industrial and Services Sector players.

In a May 29 release, the Philippine Stock Exchange  (PSE) instead stressed the increase in corporate revenues to P3.80 trillion in 2011. The listed firms generated P3.24 trillion in combined revenues in 2010.

PSE president and CEO Hans Sicat said the 17.5% rise in revenues is significant against a backdrop of slower economic expansion in 2011. The Philippine economic growth slowed to 3.6% in 2011, almost half of the growth the year before.

“We believe our investors remain confident in the profitability and potential of our listed companies, as seen in the continued increase in share prices in the past few months, and by virtue of the performance of our main index the PSEi which broke record highs 19 times already this year. Hopefully, this confidence will be further validated as listed firms report their first quarter results,” he added.

This was how the 6 sectors’s bottomline performed in 2011:

• Mining and Oil sector – up 198.6% due to higher average global metal prices and improved production levels
• Industrial sector – down 25.7% due to several set back experienced by power firms, including the absence of significant one-time gains from the previous year, higher maintenance expenses and impairment losses as well as lower collections due to lower average prices on the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM)
• Services sector – down 22.6% due to lower earnings from companies in the telecommunications and transport subsectors.
• Property sector – up 20.7% due to improved sales volumes of both residential units and commercial lots, and higher rental revenues
• Holding firms – up 4.9% due to corporate acquisitions and divestments
• Financial sector – up 17.5% due to more loans and receivables, trading gains and higher fees

– Rappler.com