MANILA, Philippines – The Gokongwei’s JG Summit Holdings (JGS) scored a 29% boost in core profits with P24.9 billion in 2024.

The conglomerate saw an 11% increase in revenues, ending the year with P379.7 billion on the back of robust travel demand, better food and beverage sales, the resumption of its petrochemical plant operations, and a bank merger in the first half of the year.

“We have successfully navigated 2024 with mixed results coming from our different units and investments,” said Lance Gokongwei, president and chief executive officer of JG Summit.

Much of its gains in the last year may be attributed to the Robinsons Bank’s merger with Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI). JGS gained P7.9 billion from the transaction, which “more than offset specific headwinds” of its other business units.

Here’s how its businesses fared:

• Food

Universal Robina Corporation (URC) — the company behind Jack ‘n Jill snacks and the distributor of Nissin’s Cup Noodles — ended 2024 with a core income of P11.3 billion and P11.7 billion, inching up by 5% and 3% respectively.

URC earned revenues worth P161.9 billion, up 3% from 2023 thanks to its international division. Snacks from its domestic brands gained traction in the fourth quarter of the year.

• Air transportation

Cebu Pacific recorded a 16% increase in revenues of P104.9 billion — its passenger business contributed P71.3 billion, while its ancillary unit gave P28 billion, and cargo business generated P5.6 billion.

The budget airline had an 2024 as it acquired 13 new aircraft, ending the year with 98, while introducing new routes. More aircraft led, however, to the decline in Cebu Pacific’s net income to P5.4 million in 2024 from P7.9 million the previous year.

Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific also acquired AirSWIFT from the Ayala Land in 2024. This would allow the budget airline to expand its offerings, connecting travelers to another leisure destination — El Nido.

In 2024, it saw a 17.6% increase in passengers, totaling 24.5 million with a seat load factor (or how many of its available seats were occupied) of 84.4%. The boost in the volume of passengers was partly due to fares declining an average of 3% in the second half of the year.

“This solid foundation gives us great confidence as we look ahead to 2025, where we anticipate continuing our rapid growth and improving both operational and financial performance,” Cebu Pacific chief finance officer Mark Cezar said in a separate statement on Thursday.

• Real estate and hotels

Robinsons Land Corporation’s (RLC) revenues inched up by 3% to P40.1 billion in 2024. The company has factored in lower sales recorded during the pandemic, but was offset by the 14% growth seen in its investment portfolio.

The company’s malls ended the year with a 93% occupancy rate, while its office division’s occupancy stood at 86%. RLC launched Opus Mall in July 2024 — its first upscale mall development.

RLC contributed P12.5 billion to the conglomerate’s consolidated core and net income.

• Petrochemicals

Meanwhile, the conglomerate noted that JG Summit Olefins Corporation is affected by “tough market conditions.”

The unit scored P50.4 billion in full year revenues, but the 33% increase was also partly due to having a lower base the previous year because of its commercial shutdown. EBITDA losses stood at P6.2 billion.

“Margins of the Polymer and Olefins products remained to be a challenger and greatly affected profitability despite the cushion from the Aromatics, Butadiene, and LPG Trading side of the business,” JG Summit said.

• Core investments

Its investments fared well in 2024 — save for its PLDT investment, but this was offset by the BPI bank merger.

The conglomerate’s share in Meralco’s net income went up 21% to P11.9 billion. Meanwhile, equity earnings from Singapore Land Group went up by 31%, although JGS did not give a specific number.

Dividends from PLDT declined by 11% due to the absence of special dividends from 2023. However, the bank merger was able to cover this as JG Summit received P746 million in its first set of dividends from BPI.

“Coming into 2025, our key priority will be to accelerate the overall topline growth of our business units given the expected rebound in consumer sentiment as inflation ases,” said Gokongwei.

“We expect that the initiatives that were started in 2024 will start to bear fruit and gain momentum — namely the value for money offerings in URC, the additional aircraft deliveries that added capacity for Cebu Pacific, and the finished projects for RLC’s investment portfolio.” – Rappler.com