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PAL
Holdings Inc. president Jaime J. Bautista said they not
considering the initial share sale of Philippine
Airlines Inc. (PAL), saying the funding requirements of
the nation’s flag carrier can be supported by the parent
firm.
“We are
not contemplating PAL of becoming a listed company since
the parent firm is already listed. If there’s a need to
raise funds, we can do it through PAL Holdings,” he said
in an interview.
The
Lucio Tan-led PAL Holdings owns 84.7 percent of the flag
carrier.
PAL is
among the big companies being wooed by the Philippine
Stock Exchange (PSE) to go public by selling a portion
of its shares of stock to investors. With a steady
profit growth, the company is expected to boost
liquidity in the stock market should it do a public
offering.
The flag
carrier anticipates a net profit of $30 million this
fiscal year from about $20 million a year earlier.
“Our
projection is that we should be reporting a modest
profit this year considering the fuel price,” said
Bautista, who is also its president and chief operating
officer.
In terms
of revenues, PAL is looking at about $1.4 billion,
almost the same level as the previous year.
Chief
finance officer Andrew Huang, meanwhile, explained the
$140.3-million net income it made in the last fiscal
year had several extraordinary gains, including
settlement of several accounts.
“Excluding those gains, our core net profit last year
was $20 million plus. We are still seeing an increase
next year,” he said.
PAL’s
fiscal year ends in March.
Its
record profit last year was triggered by the $158.4
million, or 12.8- percent upsurge in revenues, which
also reached a new high of $1.39 billion. Strong
performances by the passenger and cargo businesses,
coupled with some nonrecurring items, contributed to the
expansion.
Passenger carriage led the way, with PAL carrying a
total of 6.9 million passengers on 21,252 flights during
the year, attaining a load factor of 76.8 percent, its
highest in 15 years. |
