Earnings of PSE-listed firms drop 9% in January-March

Profits of listed companies declined at a slower pace during the first three months of the year, according to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

In a statement, the PSE reported that the combined net income of publicly-listed firms reached P63.82 billion as of end-March, a nine percent drop from P70.16 billion recorded in the same period last year. In 2008, net earnings of listed companies dropped  29 percent to P198.91 billion.

“The net earnings of listed companies have suffered becaus the ongoing financial and economic problems worldwide. We note that the decline this year has been contained at nine percent from a decline of 29 percent in the net profits of listed companies for the whole year of 2008,” PSE president and chief executive officer Francis Lim said.

The recent data were gathered from the financial statements submitted by 221 out of 244 listed companies. The PSE said total revenues of listed firms grew 1.76 percent to P614.62 billion in the first quarter from P604.01 billion in the same period last year.

“In fact, the total earnings of companies in three of the six sectors were higher than their respective levels last year,” Lim said.

The holding firms sector fared better than the rest with a 12.8 percent growth as DMCI Holdings Inc. saw increases in its water and coal mining businesses. Alliance Global Group Inc. and SM Investments Corp. also contributed to the sector’s growth for the quarter, posting a rise in sales from their respective businesses.

Higher interest incomes as well as trading and foreign exchange gains boosted the financial sector’s net income by 11.7 percent, while telecommunications firms drove profits of the service sector by 5.4 percent during the three-month period.

On the other hand, the mining and oil sector recorded the biggest net profit contraction at 48.3 percent, driven mainly by the slump in metal production, lower copper prices, foreign exchange losses, and other market-to-market losses of some of the bigger listed mining firms.

Earnings of the industrial sector also suffered during the quarter with a 34.5 percent decline, which was brought about by the 61.9 percent drop in profits under the food, beverage and tobacco subsectors.

The property sector, meanwhile, posted a 13.7 percent decline in profits due to absence of one-time gains. –abs.cbnNEWS.com