Stock News 2013: PLDT to expand fiber optic network

The PLDT Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. is rolling out over 5,000 kilometers of new fiber optic cable this year to support both wireless and fixed-line services across the country.

In a statement, PLDT said it would spend P2.5 billion to push its fiber optic network to over 60,000 kilometers this year.

The fiber expansion program for 2013 will cover the domestic fiber optic network (DFON) used for long-haul applications, fiber-to-the home (FTTH), fiber-in the-loop (FITL) and other inter-office fibering projects.

The FTTH project, for example, will make PLDT’s high-speed internet services available to about two million homes in different parts of the country, incuding Metro Manila, the regions of Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, and the provinces of Panay, Negros Occidental, Cebu, and Davao.

“With this expansion program, we are bolstering our already formidable fiber advantage,” PLDT president and CEO Napoleon Nazareno said.

“Fiber is key to having the capacity to deliver next-generation, large-bandwidth data services,” he added.

Additional fiber links include submarine cables that will boost the data connectivity of the islands of Palawan, Bohol and Panay where the demand for resilient data services is rising due to the booming tourism and business process outsourcing industries in these areas.

Last month, PLDT announced the completion of the Hong Kong FOC extension project as part of the 7,800-km undersea Asia Submarine-cable Express system that links the Philippines to Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong through PLDT’s new landing station in Daet, Camarines Norte.

http://business.inquirer.net/111709/pldt-to-expand-fiber-optic-network

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Stock News 2013: Gokongwei plans more power, ethanol projects in Negros

Official seal of City of Bacolod (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tycoon John Gokongwei Jr. has announced plans to put up power and ethanol plants on Negros Island.

Gokongwei said on Thursday that the Gokongwei group would put up an ethanol plant at the Universal Robina Sugar Milling Corp. (Ursumco) compound in Manjuyod, Negros Oriental.

He said the ethanol plant would be operational by the end of the year.

The Ursumco ethanol plant will use molasses, a byproduct from the processing of sugar cane into sugar, to produce ethanol.

Meanwhile, other byproducts from the sugar mills would be used to fuel power plants.

One proposed power plant would be located at the Southern Negros Development Corp. (Sonedco) property in Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental, Gokongwei said.

The power plant will generate electricity using bagasse, a renewable biomass residue from the sugar mill, as feedstock, according to the investor presentation of United Robina Corp. (URC).

The power plant would supply Sonedco’s electricity requirement while the surplus power would be fed to the power grid in the area.

The URC company officials disclosed that the power plant would have a capacity of 40 megawatts and would cost around $60 million.

If the ventures into ethanol and power production would turn out to be economically viable and competitive, Gokongwei said the group would consider putting up more ethanol and power plants.

Gokongwei, chairman of JG Summit Holdings, was in Bacolod to receive a plaque declaring him an adopted son of Bacolod as well as a copy of an executive order that named him the honorary mayor.

http://business.inquirer.net/108043/rcbc-posts-24-profit-growth

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Stock News 2012: URC raises P7.44B from treasury shares

Universal Robina (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Universal Robina Corp. (URC), the food and drink manufacturing arm of the John Gokongwei family, has raised P7.44 billion from the sale of treasury shares to institutional investors.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, URC said it sold 120 million common shares previously held as treasury shares at P62 each or a 4.8 percent discount to the previous closing price and a 2.3 percent discount to the 30-day volume weighted average price.

The shares were crossed through a special block sale at the PSE yesterday.

CLSA Ltd. acted as sole bookrunner and sole placing agent for the sale.

URC said proceeds from the share sale will be used to fund potential acquisitions and for general corporate purposes.

The company has been expanding its footprint overseas and will soon open a new factory in Burma. Its international operations currently account for about a third of its business and is seen to grow as big as its domestic operations in around five years.

For this year, URC has set a capital spending of P5.2 billion, 14 percent higher than the P4.56 billion spent a year before. Majority of the capital budget, or 80 percent, will be used for the continued expansion of its branded consumer foods segment operations — primarily snack foods production facilities in the Philippines and biscuit factories in its two biggest markets, Thailand and Vietnam.

The remaining 20 percent of the capex will go to the construction of a $27-million bioethanol plant at URC’s sugar milling complex in Negros Occidental.

Bioethanol is a form of renewable energy intended to provide a more environmentally and economically friendly alternative fossil fuels such as diesel and gasoline. It can be made from very common crops such as sugarcane, potato and corn.

The bioethanol plant, which will churn out 100,00 liters of fuel a day, is projected to contribute a little over one percent to company’s revenues.

URC grew its net earnings in the first half of its fiscal year ending September 2012 by 36.5 percent to P4.48 billion due to significant improvement in market values of bond and equity holdings and lower foreign exchange loss from foreign currency-denominated transactions.

Sales rose 6.6 percent to P35.49 billion while core sales went up 13 percent.

URC is involved in a range of food-related businesses, including the manufacture and distribution of branded consumer foods, production of hogs and day-old chicks, manufacture of animal and fish feeds, glucose and veterinary compounds, flour milling, and sugar milling and refining.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=817222&publicationSubCategoryId=66

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Stock News 2012: Universal Robina goes into ethanol

Universal Robina (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Universal Robina Corp. (URC), the food manufacturing unit of tycoon John Gokongwei’s JG Summit Holdings Inc., is diversifying into fuel ethanol development.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange yesterday, URC said its board approved to “amend the secondary purpose in its articles of incorporation in order to include the production of fuel ethanol and engage in such activity.”

Bioethanol is a form of renewable energy intended to provide a more environmentally and economically friendly alternative fossil fuels such as diesel and gasoline. It can be made from very common crops such as sugar cane, potato and corn.

URC is reportedly looking at putting up a bioethanol plant, using sugar molasses as feedstock from its sugar mills in Negros Occidental.

URC engages in sugar milling and refining through Universal Robina Sugar Milling Corp. (the flagship sugar refinery of the JG Summit Group), Cagayan Robina Sugar Milling Co. and Southern Negros Development Corp.

The government is promoting the use of ethanol as an alternative source of energy to reduce the country’s dependence on imported fuel.

Aside from sugar milling, URC also produces a diverse mix of snack food, chocolate, candy, biscuit, bakery, beverage, noodles and tomato based products.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=777200&publicationSubCategoryId=66

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