Ownership update. The merger of Equitable PCI Bank and Banco de Oro Universal Bank, shortened to BDO Unibank, has opened up more shares to foreign funds. Prior to the merger, foreign ownership of BDO common shares had reached the 40-percent legal limit, which dropped to 17.72 percent as of June 30, 2007, a month after the merger took effect. Since then, foreign funds have been accumulating BDO shares, apparently taking advantage of the market slump that by March 31, 2008, foreigners have piled up 473.18 million shares, or 20.55 percent, which are held by PCD Nominee Corp. Of the PCD-held shares, 229.809 million shares, or 9.98 percent, and 138.744 million shares, or 6.03 percent, are listed in the name of Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. and Standard Chartered Bank, respectively, as trustee banks and PCD participants.

Good stock. San Miguel Properties Inc. (SMPI) is a good stock to bet on. In the last three fiscal years, it reported total net profits of close to P1 billion, or P992.334 million—P370.889 million in 2007; P257.250 million in 2006; and P364.195 million in 2005. Profitability enabled SMPI to pile up retained earnings of P3.712 billion as of end-2007 based on the financial report, dated February 26, 2008 and signed by Jessie C. Carpio, a partner at Punongbayan & Araullo. The amount excludes SMPI’s share, or equity in the language used by CPAs, in the profits of its units—P357.242 million and P345.803 million in 2007 and 2006, respectively. P&A’s audit report showed SMPI had total current assets of P3.117 billion against total current liabilities of P436.881 million.

Rarely traded. SMPI, based on the reports of its financial performance available for viewing by the public on the web site of the Philippine Stock Exchange, is a must-include stock in one’s portfolio. But the problem is any investor would find it difficult to buy even a single SMPI share because nobody is selling. SMPI is rarely traded that its list of stockholder contains the same stockholders year after year. It was last traded on February 8, 2007, when it closed at P38.50 on volume of 200 shares. A similar trade occurred a year earlier when the same number of shares was sold at the same price. The two transactions did not change SMPI’s ownership profile. At the end of 2007, PCD Nominee held for the public investors 5,932 shares, the same number it held in June 2007. The owners of PCD-held shares, along with individual investors who are direct stockholders, make-up SMPI’s minority stockholders. The majority stockholder, San Miguel Corp., owns 119.811 million shares, or 98.4519 percent, while its unit, Philippine Breweries Corp., holds 1.526 million shares, or 1.2537 percent. These two stockholders combine for 99.7056 percent.

Audited reports. SMPI, along with Ginebra San Miguel Inc. (GSMI), has beaten two of its sister companies in the SMC group in submitting audited financial statements to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its report, dated February 26, 2008, was posted on the PSE website on April 14, 2008, the same day when GSMI filed with regulators its financial statement dated March 3, 2008 and signed by Antonio O. Maceda Jr., partner in KMPG Manabat Sanagustin, which is also the external auditor of San Miguel Pure Foods Inc. SMC paid KMPG Manapat P11.5-million fees and P5.4-million in other fees in auditing its financial performance in 2005 and P30 million in 2006. It has yet to disclose the amount for similar job for calendar year 2007.

Late filing. Incidentally, SMC and its unit, San Miguel Pure Foods, won’t be able to beat the deadline this month in the filing of audited financial report for 2007. In separate filings on April 22, 2008, SMC and Pure Foods said their external auditors—KPMG Sanagustin—“have not completed their audit procedures to enable them to report on the company’s 2007 financial statements.” SMC said the noncompletion of its audit “is due to the noncompletion of the audit of its subsidiary, San Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc., resulting from certain adjustments made by Monterey Foods Corp. (MFC), a subsidiary of SMFC, affecting its receivables and inventories, resulting in a reduction of MFC’s retained earnings as of December 31, 2006. The external auditors of MFC are still ascertaining the allocation of the adjustments made between the current year and the prior years’ results of operations.” SMC and Pure Foods told regulators they would submit the reports “not later than May 15, 2008.”

www.duediligencer.com

JGSH Philippines Ltd., a wholly-owned offshore unit of JG Summit Holdings Inc., has secured a $300-million syndicated term-loan facility it will use to pay maturing obligations.

SkyCable to spend P600M on digital encryption boxes

CENTRAL CATV, a cable television firm doing business as SkyCable, will spend P600 million this year to roll out more digital boxes in Metro Manila and Cebu, according to chief operating officer Carlo Katigbak.

SAN Miguel Properties Inc. (SMPI), the listed property arm of San Miguel Corp. (SMC), said its net profit in 2007 rose 44 percent to P371 million from P257 million a year earlier driven by higher-rental income and lower-operating expenses.

CLIENTS can now get the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor in systems from Hewlett-Packard (HP), processor maker ADVANCED Micro Devices (AMD) said in a statement.

THE Philippine Stock Exchange index fell 30.94, or 1.1 percent, to 2,824.81 at the close, its fourth day of losses. The measure is 27-percent down from its 3,873.50 record close on October 8.

The merger of Equitable PCI Bank and Banco de Oro Universal Bank, shortened to BDO Unibank, has opened up more shares to foreign funds. Prior to the merger, foreign ownership of BDO common shares had reached the 40-percent legal limit, which dropped to 17.72 percent as of June 30, 2007, a month after the merger took effect.