The Wutz Up in the Philippines!

Listed fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. expects more robust growth this year after net earnings grew by almost a quarter to P813 million in the last quarter of 2009 due to lower raw material costs, more efficient marketing spending and lower income taxes.

The company’s earnings for the full year also increased by 14.6 percent from a year earlier as system-wide sales from company-owned and franchised stores went up by almost a tenth, Jollibee said in a statement on Thursday.

“We look forward to a more robust growth in 2010 particularly in the Philippines and China, as we now have better products, price points, store quality, and marketing campaigns driven by even stronger organizations,” Jollibee Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tony Tan Caktiong said.

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LOCAL STOCKS slumped 2.4 percent on Monday to post its worst performance in more than five months as a weak global investor sentiment, aggravated by escalating domestic fundamental concerns, triggered a massive selldown of blue chips.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 69.98 points to close at a three-month low of 2,883.21 after breaching a key support level at 2,900.

In terms of percentage drop, it was also the worst daily bloodbath seen by the index since Aug. 17 last year when it plunged by 2.77 percent.

The selldown in the local stock market was broad-based, leaving 103 decliners as against only 15 advancers and 40 unchanged stocks.

Dumped yesterday were Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Ayala Corp., Alliance Global Group Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands, SM Investments Corp., Energy Development Corp., Jollibee Foods Corp., Manila Electric Co., and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

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The Philippines may import around 150 million liters of ethanol this year, mostly from Brazil, as domestic output remains short of demand, a senior government official said Wednesday.

Local production capacity of the biofuel is projected to double to 78 million liters this year from 2009, still far short of the forecast demand of 219 million liters.

“We may end up importing around 150 million liters this year, give or take several tens of millions, depending on local production and availability,” Rafael Coscolluela, vice chairman of the National Biofuels Board told Reuters in a phone interview.

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Days after the New Year’s Eve revelry dies down, expect colorful lanterns or wreaths to remain hanging on the windows of many Filipino homes—part of a tradition in this Southeast Asian country known to have the longest Yuletide celebration in the world.

In Barangay (village) Lower Bicutan, in Taguig City, 15 kilometers east of Manila, the ubiquitous holiday decorations are a testament to a never-say-die spirit and ingenuity. They are mostly fashioned out of water lilies that clog the town’s drainage system instead of the conventional bamboo sticks, Japanese and crepe paper that have come to be associated with the iconic symbol of the Filipino Christmas.

Taguig City outlines Laguna de Bay, one of the biggest freshwater lakes in Asia and the Philippines’ largest inland body of water. Water lilies are known to thrive in such bodies of water, growing to a height of 40 inches and multiplying fast. Thus, they can easily displace local aquatic plants and adversely affect water quality and flow.

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HONG KONG - Philippine 2020 bonds rose on Thursday after the country’s $1.5 billion, two tranche reopening of existing bonds received orders of $10 billion, allowing the borrower to lower the final yield at which the debt was issued.

Manila sold $650 million in bonds due in 2020 at 106.25 cents on the dollar to yield 5.674%. They were trading at 107 in early dealings on Thursday.

It also sold $850 million in bonds due in 2034 at 96.5 cents on the dollar to yield 6.664%. They were trading steady at 96.50.

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THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas yesterday decided to keep its key policy rates steady, citing the need to further boost the economy’s modest growth.

“The Monetary Board’s decision is based on its view that the current monetary policy settings remain appropriate. Keeping policy rates unchanged could also encourage further investment and borrowing activities,” said BSP governor Amando Tetango Jr. shortly after the last policy rate meeting for the year.

From December 2008 to July 2009, the BSP slashed overnight borrowing and lending rates to historic lows of 4 percent and 6 percent, respectively. Yesterday, the central bank kept the same rates.

The series of rate cuts was meant to influence banks to reduce their own lending rates and encourage borrowings. Monetary authorities said borrowings should support consumption and investments, which in turn would fuel growth.

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Treasury chief says banks remain very liquid

MANILA, Philippines–THE YIELD ON THE BENCHMARK 91-DAY TREAsury bills went up by 9.3 basis points to an average of 3.887 percent as interest rates rose across the board in this year’s last auction for government securities.

Interest on the 182-day bills went up 0.5 basis point while that for the 364-day issue rose 6.3 basis points.

The six-month debt paper now costs the government an average of 4.095 percent while the year-long issue costs 4.562 percent.

National Treasurer Roberto B. Tan said yesterday’s increases were insignificant and that the results were lower than the rates for done deals in the secondary market.

Tan said the auction was good in that all offerings were oversubscribed, showing much liquidity remaining in the market, especially with P6.9 billion worth of treasury bills maturing this week.

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THE Philippine government expects to receive $250 million from the Clean Technology Fund to help the country implement projects that will mitigate climate change, according to Energy Secretary Angelo T. Reyes.

Reyes said the fund would help leverage an estimated $2.75 billion worth of investments needed to implement key programs and projects that would significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Clean Technology Fund is as part of a broad global initiative to help developing countries meet the cost of actions needed to combat climate change.

To be issued as concessional loans, the CTF will largely support the deployment of low carbon energy technologies as well as energy efficiency measures for industry, commercial buildings and municipalities.

Activities supported by the fund will get co-financing from the Asian Development Bank’s regular operations and this is expected to mobilize additional financing from both the government and the private sector.

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Analysts forecast cut in remittances

MANILA, Philippines - A brewing debt crisis in Dubai has raised a specter of gloom on the Philippines, where many households have been relying on petrodollars sent home by a large pool of overseas workers in the Middle East.

While the immediate impact is in the form of escalating risk aversion in the financial markets, the sharpest blow could come from the potential loss of overseas Filipino jobs that, in turn, could curb remittance flows and dampen domestic consumer spending if the Dubai crisis worsens, analysts and economists said.

Global financial markets were recently rattled by news that Dubai’s main investment arm, Dubai World, was seeking at least a six-month delay on repaying its $60 billion in debt.

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Albay, Bicol – Businesses need to invest on innovating their business processes not only to survive the crisis, but also to come out of it as a competitive entity, an HP executive remarked during a forum with IT reporters here Friday.

Citing the need to change the economies of technology due to the recent global financial crisis, Diana dela Rosa, technology services country manager, HP Philippines , said CIOs are faced with a constant challenge to balance the act between transforming their company and remaining stable during the crisis.

“There are firms who balance cost cutting with investment,” dela Rosa said, dispelling misconceptions that a crisis is a time for immense and drastic budget cuts. “They are focused on balancing cost reductions with laying the groundwork to exit the crisis more competitive.”

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