MANILA – The Gokongwei-led conglomerate, JG Summit Holdings Inc., aims to spend PHP87.5 billion this year, mainly to expand its petrochemicals, airline, property and food businesses, as it is bullish on economic growth prospects.
JG Summit president and chief executive officer Lance Gokongwei said the bulk of this year’s capital expenditures (capex), or PHP32 billion, will be spent for JG Summit Petrochemicals Group.
Gokongwei said PHP27 billion will be earmarked for Cebu Pacific, PHP18 billion for Robinsons Land Corp., and PHP9 billion for food and beverage maker Universal Robina Corp.
“We are very confident the Philippines will continue to grow or we wouldn’t make such investment,” he told reporters after the conglomerate’s stockholders’ meeting Thursday night.
The conglomerate allotted a capex of PHP80 billion last year.
Gokongwei said it is investing a billion dollars in the petrochemicals business.
“The demand for resin tends to grow faster than economic growth, especially (in a) country like ours, where middle classes are growing significantly. So we think that in the medium term, (there is going to be) a significant market in the Philippines for plastics and the like,” he added. (PNA)
