LT Group, Inc. (LTG) reported an unaudited attributable net income of P21.02 billion for 2020, 9.1 percent less than the P23.12 billion reported for the previous year.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, LTG said the tobacco business accounted for P16.83 billion or 80 percent of total attributable income while Philippine National Bank (PNB) contributed P1.55 billion or 7 percent.
Tanduay Distillers, Inc. (TDI) contributed P1.10 billion or 5 percent; Eton Properties Philippines, Inc. (Eton) accounted for P799 million or 4 percent; as Asia Brewery, Inc. (ABI) contributed P583 million or 3 percent.
LTG’s 30.9 percent stake in Victorias Milling Company, Inc. (VMC) accounted for P264 million or 1 percent.
On March 17, 2021, LTG’s Board of Directors declared a regular dividend of P0.15 per share and a special dividend of P0.09 per share, for a total of P2.60 billion, payable on April 13. This is equivalent to 12.4 percent of LTG’s 2020 attributable net income.
Aside from the regular cash dividend of Php0.15 per share that was paid in June, LTG paid three special cash dividends in 2020, P0.28 per share in June, P0.23 per share in September and P0.15 per share in December.
This brought the total dividends declared in 2020 to P0.81 per share or P8.76 billion, significantly higher than 2019’s P0.30 per share or total of P3.25 billion. The 2020 dividends translate to a 37.9 percent pay-out rate compared to 20.0 percent in 2019.
PMFTC’s volume was 16 percent lower year-on-year in 2020 as the industry’s volume is estimated to have declined by 12 percent due to the end-Aug 2019 and October to November 2020 price increases to pass on the additional excise taxes.
This was compounded with the impact of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). Illicit activities have also been on the rise since ECQ was declared in March.The tobacco business had a net income of P16.9 billion in 2020, 9 percent more than 2019.
The higher income is attributed to the higher share of premium Marlboro with customers shifting from mid-priced Fortune, as well as the price increases to pass on higher excise taxes.
TDI’s net income for 2020 was P1.12 billion, 65 percent higher than 2019, largely due to the increase in the volume of liquor sales and a 34 percent decrease in selling and marketing expenses to P1.0 billion.
Eton’s net income for 2020 was P802 million, 11 percent lower than 2019 while ABI earned a net income of P591 million, 48 percent higher than 2019 due to the absence of losses incurred for the joint venture with Heineken.
PNB’s net income under the pooling method was P2.8 billion in 2020, 72 percent lower than 2019 primarily due to the P16.9 billion provision for credit losses that the bank booked in 2020, 5.84 percent higher than 2019’s P2.9 billion, largely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in a downturn in the economy.