Top Frontier Investment issues P26-B perpetual shares

TOP FRONTIER Investment Holdings, Inc. has issued perpetual shares amounting to P25.88 billion to settle outstanding loans.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday, the controlling shareholder of San Miguel Corp. said it issued peso-denominated perpetual securities to Bryce Canyon Investments Ltd. on June 30.

Bryce Canyon, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, may convert the securities into preferred shares in Top Frontier.

As of end-March, the Philippine-listed company has P968.83 billion in total liabilities, including P250.32 billion in long-term debt. Of this amount, P344.27 billion is booked as current liabilities, including P149.16 billion in loans payable.

Top Frontier netted P14.6 billion in net income for the first quarter. This more than doubled the P6.13 billion recorded a year earlier on the back of improved financial results from SMC and its units.

The company owns 66.2% of SMC, which engages in food and beverage, properties, energy, infrastructure, airline, mining, banking and other businesses.

SMC, the country’s most diversified conglomerate, more than doubled its net profit to P13.54 billion from P6.11 billion in the first three months on the strength of its core businesses, San Miguel Pure Foods, Co., Inc., San Miguel Brewery, Inc., Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. and San Miguel Packaging Group.

The company also benefitted from higher revenues from SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. and San Miguel Holdings Corp. Improved operating efficiencies, meanwhile, helped tame the impact of the slump in oil prices on Petron Corp.’s financial performance.

Top Frontier also owns 100% of the outstanding common stock of Clariden Holdings, Inc., which has interests in exploration, mining and development.

Shares in Top Frontier, which listed on the local bourse by way of introduction that involved the sale of privately held shares to the public, closed 3 centavos or 1.54% down to P192 apiece on Monday. —