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Elijah Felice Rosales - The Philippine Star
March 15, 2025 | 12:00am
Last year was Ayala’s strongest year ever – Consing
MANILA, Philippines — Ayala Corp., the oldest conglomerate in the Philippines, posted in 2024 its strongest year ever in its nearly two centuries of existence, drawing double-digit growth from its banking, property and energy units.
Ayala yesterday said its core income, excluding one-off items, went up by 10 percent to an all-time high of P45 billion last year on solid contributions from its flagship businesses.
Ayala president and CEO Cezar Consing said the conglomerate expects to sustain momentum through 2025 with the rise of its younger ventures.
“Last year was Ayala’s strongest year ever. We continue to be reliant on core business units, but 2025 should be an inflection point for our smaller and newer businesses,” Consing said.
Among the flagship businesses, financial giant Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) provided the largest cushion for Ayala, as its profit rose by 20 percent to a record P62 billion. BPI registered a full-year return on equity of 15.1 percent.
Property leader Ayala Land Inc. increased its net income by 15 percent to P28.2 billion, as the company received revenue growth across its units.
AC Energy and Infrastructure Corp., the parent of ACEN Corp., also raised its core income by 13 percent to P10.7 billion, as ACEN gained more from higher renewables output.
However, network provider Globe Telecom Inc. sustained a one-percent slide in its profit to P24 billion, as the telco suffered higher depreciation that neutralized yields from record revenue and lower spending.
The group is allocating P230 billion for capital expenditures in 2025. Although the conglomerate’s net debt rose by 17 percent to P590.5 billion, its net debt-to-equity ratio stood at 0.81 times, still well below the covenant of three times.
“Ayala’s balance sheet remained healthy despite market volatility. Ayala continues to have good access to credit from domestic and international banks, multilaterals and the capital markets,” the conglomerate said.
Among its younger subsidiaries, Ayala picked up the best performance from AC Industrials, as it chopped down its net loss by two thirds to P2.4 billion on lower impairments.
Both AC Health and AC Logistics widened net losses in 2024, to P610 million and P2.2 billion, respectively, but are working on increasing revenues and cutting costs to improve their financial position.
