AYALA EARMARKS P185B FOR CAPEX THIS YEAR

Conglomerate Ayala Corp. plans to scale up its social and hard infrastructure businesses as part its thrust to align its corporate goals to the development needs of the country.

In the last five years, the group has deployed about P720 billion in fresh capital to support its traditional and emerging businesses. For this year, the group has planned P185 billion in combined capital expenditure across its portfolio of businesses.

The group is now contributing to the country’s energy requirements through AC Energy and providing transport systems through AC Infrastructure.

Through AC Health and AC Education—the components of its social infrastructure investments—it’s expanding its reach to the low-income segment with affordable products and services, Ayala chair and chief executive Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said during the company’s stockholders’ meeting yesterday.

Zobel said during the press briefing after the meeting that these investments in social infrastructure would make a “visible” impact on AC financial performance after 2020. “It takes time to enter these new spaces,” he said.

Ayala president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala reported to stockholders that Generika, a leader in quality and affordable medicine, opened 116 new stores last year, bringing its total network to 674 stores nationwide.