AGI FIRST-HALF BOTTOM LINE DOWN 67%

The COVID-19 pandemic hit most businesses—from real estate to fast food— but not liquor sales, which saw a boost as the crisis unfolded, Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI) said.

AGI, Tan’s flagship holding company, saw profit in the first semester fall 67 percent to P4.1 billion as revenue dropped 26 percent to P61.4 billion.

And while the pandemic affected its fast food outlets, malls, hotels and casino, Emperador Inc. posted growth as its overseas business offset a domestic slowdown due to the liquor ban.

This was mainly from its Scotland-based Whyte and Mackay operations. The company’s whisky revenue jumped by 29 percent while more than doubling its profit from year-ago levels.

As a result, Emperador’s net income rose 2 percent to P3.3 billion.

This was in contrast to AGI’S other businesses such as Megworld Corp., Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. and Golden Arches Development Corp., which runs Mcdonald’s Philippines.

Those companies posted declines because of the pandemic.

“The country’s strict twomonth lockdown weighed heavily on most of our domestic operations,” Kevin L. Tan, CEO of AGI, said in a statement.

“We take comfort from the fact that we have managed to diversify our sources of income, either by type of products or by geographic contribution, and this has helped us mitigate the impact of this pandemic on our group performance,” he added.

During the first semester, property giant Megaworld saw profit decline 33 percent to P5.4 billion as revenues sank 25 percent to P23.8 billion.

Travellers, which operates the Resorts World Manila integrated casino, recorded a net loss of P3.7 billion in the first half this year, a reversal from its P845-million net income the year before.

Strict quarantine measures cut gross revenues by over half to P6.1 billion while non-gaming revenue fell 44 percent to P1.7 billion.