"It is good to hear that our listed companies remained committed in growing their business sales, as seen in the higher revenues they churned in as a whole. While companies in the US and in other countries scramble for funds or file for bankruptcy protection, our local companies have stayed afloat," said Lim.
But he also said from January to September of this year the combined net income of listed companies dropped 19.8 percent to P162.82 billion from P203.04 billion compared to the same period a year ago.
"The net income results show, however, that our companies are not spared from the ill-effects of the financial crisis and the rising inflation during the third quarter of this year," he stated.
"We are encouraged by the fact that some sectors have managed to post growth in their net profits despite the turbulent market environment. Our mining and oil, property and industrial sectors still posted higher combined incomes compared to the previous year," Lim said. "Against a backdrop of uncertainty, the resilience of our listed companies in these sectors is highly commendable."
The latest PSE study was based on the financial statements of 231 companies, including the companies listed in the small and medium enterprises (SME) Board.
In its study, the PSE noted that companies in three of the six sectors in the Main Board incurred higher net earnings while the three other sectors posted net income drop.
In the Main Board, the combined net earnings of companies in the Property Sector increased by 14.92 percent to P21.14 billion from P18.40 billion; the Mining and Oil Sector, by P4.96 billion from P4.44 billion; and the Industrial Sector, by 7.74 percent to P47.97 billion from P44.52 billion.
But the Holding Firms Sector suffered the worst drop in combined net income, which fell by 42.12 percent to P27.22 billion from P47.03 billion last year.
On the other hand, the combined net earnings of the Financial Sector also declined 36.53 percent to P21.84 billion from P34.42 billion; and the Services Sector went down by 26.84 percent to P39.67 billion from P54.23 billion.
Companies in the SME Board registered net income slightly drop 1.93 percent to P8.64 billion during the three quarters of the year from P8.81 billion the same period a year ago.
The combined earnings of companies that constitute the PSE index (PSEi) were lower by 12.46 percent to P125.27 billion from P143.09 billion. (MSN/Sunnex)
