Lopez holding firm bullish on sustained growth  

FIRST Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH) is bullish that the company will be able to sustain its growth in the remaining part of the year on the back of its businesses’ improved performance.

FPH President and Chief Operating Officer Francis Giles B. Puno said he sees momentum for the Lopez-led company’s units, adding that they are “performing as expected.”

“Generally, I would say that the outlook is positive,” Mr. Puno said on the sidelines of the recent Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) International CEO Conference in Taguig City.

“[For] our power generation business, the demand is already back to pre-pandemic levels. Then you have real estate. Rockwell Land Corp. is doing really well. We have new locators in our industrial park and the demand for high-efficiency transformers is still there for the utilities,” he added. 

Mr. Puno said the company’s growth drivers for the remaining months of the year include its core businesses in the real estate, power, and construction sectors.

FPH’s subsidiaries include First Gen Corp., Batangas Cogeneration Corp., First Philec Inc., Rockwell Land, and First Balfour, Inc. The company is also in a joint venture with Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo Corp. for the First Philippine Industrial Park economic zone in Batangas. 

“Our growth drivers are the core businesses. More capacity on the power side. Hopefully, the momentum on real estate will continue, not only in Rockwell business but also in the industrial park, and then the construction business because there’s a lot of infrastructure that should be constructed,” Mr. Puno said, adding that he was “hoping that we get more contracts.”

In the first half, FPH’s net income attributable to equity holders of the parent rose 29% to P8.1 billion after recording higher revenues. 

The conglomerate’s consolidated revenues rose 7% to P84.1 billion on the back of higher electricity sales and higher contracts and services.

On Tuesday, shares of FPH at the local bourse dropped 40 centavos or 0.63% to finish at P62.60 apiece. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave