Lopez Holdings Corporation posted a 93 percent plunge in attributable net income to P275 million for the first six months of 2020 from the P4.18 billion earned in the same period last year.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said this is due to lower revenues from all business units and higher costs that include one-off expenses related to the group’s COVID-19 response and share in the net loss reported by ABS-CBN’s media and entertainment businesses.
Unaudited consolidated revenues decreased by 21 percent year-on-year (YoY) to P53.88 billion from P67.91 billion.
Operating companies held by investee First Philippine Holdings Corporation experienced slower sales of electricity (down 18 percent); real estate (down 52 percent); contracts and services (down 23 percent); and sale of merchandise (down 26 percent).
Likewise, unaudited consolidated costs and expenses decreased by 21 percent to P40.64 billion from P51.30 billion.
Share in earnings or losses from investment accounted for at equity method (down 308 percent) represent primarily the performance of ABS-CBN, and includes share in the performance of FPH units.
All other income and expenses reflect FPH accounts or those of its subsidiaries and affiliates, including finance costs (down 1 percent), finance income (down 16 percent), foreign exchange gain of P87 million (from a comparative loss of P82 million), dividend income (down 5 percent) and other income (down 44 percent).
FPH reported a 26 percent decrease in attributable net income to P5.02 billion from P6.75 billion in the first half of 2019. It reported a 21 percent decrease in revenues to P53.88 billion from P67.91 billion.
ABS-CBN booked a net loss of P3.93 billion for the first half of 2020, compared to a net income of P1.47 billion in the same period last year.
It reported unaudited revenues of P13.317 billion, 36 percent lower than P20.80 billion in the first half of last year.
Ad sales accounted for 39 percent of ABS-CBN revenues, compared to 54 percent in the first half of 2019. ABS-CBN ceased use of government-assigned broadcast frequencies on May 5, 2020 in compliance with a National Telecommunication Commission order. Its legislative franchise was effective until May 4, 2020.