LT Group (LTG) reported a net profit of P3.73 billion in the first half of 2021, down 63 percent from P10.3 billion in the same period last year.

The P6.3 billion profit drop was entirely due to PNB’s higher provisioning for credit losses and the elimination of the gain from the transfer of real estate assets at the consolidated level.

LT Group, Inc.’s (LTG) attributable net income in the first half of 2021 amounted to Php 3.73 billion, Php6.30 billion or 63% lower than the Php10.03 billion reported for the same period in 2020.

This is mainly due to the higher provisioning for credit losses booked by its banking subsidiary and the elimination of the gain from the transfer of real estate assets at the consolidated level.

PNB said it booked a total of P19 billion in total provision for bad loans in the first half of 2021, P16.9 billion of which was chalked up in the second quarter.

Aside from its mounting bad loans, PNB also saw its net interest income drop by three percent to P16.85 billion and trading and foreign exchange gains tanked by 57 percent to P1.58 billion.

Despite the woeful figures, PNB president Wick Veloso claimed that his management delivered “excellent results” during the period.

Veloso said PNB was able to “monetize its low-income generating assets” with a paper gain of P33.6 billion from the increase in fair market values of the bank’s three prime real estate properties transferred to PNB Holdings Corporation in exchange for shares.

In contrast to PNB’s poor results, LTG’s other subsidiaries were excellent:

* 50-percent owned Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco contributed P9.01 billion in net income in the first half, up by 10 percent from P8.21 billion in the same period in 2020;

* Tanduay Distillers Inc. led by Hun Hun Tan added P605 million in profits in the first half, up by 11 percent; and

* Asia Brewery Inc. led by Mike Tan added P343 million, up by 760 percent.

LTG’s property arm, Eton, reported a 29 percent year-on-year drop in its profits to P288 million in the first half.

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