The Philippine macro environment saw rising and receding tides in 2024. Continuously increasing tourist activity, evidenced by the demand in our airline and hotels businesses, fostered growth and stimulated the economy. However, this was tempered by softer consumer sentiment, especially from a larger part of the population as a result of the lingering sticky inflation. The real estate sector also encountered various challenges, particularly in the office and residential segments. Through careful navigation, we were able to adapt to these headwinds, ensuring steady progress across our businesses.

Our food and beverage business saw some cyclical downtrading as spending gravitated towards more value-for-money offerings. Thus, we recalibrated our strategies to align with this transitory change in preferences. Additionally, local sugar prices in 2024 were significantly lower than the previous year’s highs. Counterbalancing the difficulties in domestic operations was the stronger performance of our international businesses, with initiatives we had previously put in place already yielding positive results.

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On aviation, the industry-wide aircraft supply issue continued to persist, coupled with the challenges we experienced with our engines significantly affecting our ability to introduce capacity to fulfill demand. Our airline, Cebu Pacific, worked towards building operational resilience. From a long-term perspective, Cebu Pacific cemented its growth strategy by signing an agreement with Airbus for its landmark 1.4-trillion-peso fleet order for up to 152 aircraft. This is the largest deal in Philippine aviation history and is anchored on our belief in the continuous increase in air travel. Aside from this, it also acquired AirSWIFT, strengthening its network and further solidifying its foothold in the country.

The Philippine real estate office and residential sectors suffered from the effects of the exit of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and decelerating uptake for condominiums, respectively. We are fortunate that our exposure to POGOs is limited, thus occupancy rates for Robinsons Land’s offices continue to be better than industry.  On the residential segment, we have been tempering our project launches and have begun focusing on fast-growing horizontal developments outside of Metro Manila. Also, RLC’s business leans more towards its investment portfolio, which makes up 70% of revenues and was able to offset the decline the business saw in its residential segment.

The global petrochemical industry remains under pressure as margins continue to be unfavorable with volumes muted.  Navigating through this tide has been challenging, as the down cycle will continue to persist.  We have decided to trim down our losses by announcing an indefinite shutdown of the plant this early 2025.  We, however, continue to operate our LPG trading business.

These headwinds also affected investors’ perception of JG Summit, leading to a steep decline in our share price in 2024. We believe that this is a temporary setback and we will work harder to overcome these challenges in our portfolio to improve our performance and drive long-term value creation.

Coming into a new year, we have begun addressing the challenges we experienced in 2024 and expect the strategies we have set in place to gain traction as the year progresses. At the parent company, we remain focused on supporting our core businesses units to drive topline and profit growth. Owing to our vast consumer-facing footprint at the Gokongwei Group, we continue to look for ways to harness the group’s strengths and unlock synergies within our ecosystem.

We also made some key leadership changes at the start of 2025. Mybelle Aragon-GoBio has been appointed as President and CEO of RLC to continue steering the company towards long-term, sustainable expansion. In URC, Mian David will lead the Branded Consumer Foods (BCF) Philippines business with a clear mandate to pivot this division back to growth and market share recovery.

We believe that Cebu Pacific will be a strong driver for our group in the coming year, fueled by 2024’s significant fleet expansion. Meanwhile, for JG Summit Olefins, we continue to evaluate various strategic options while plant operations are on hold, taking into consideration all our stakeholders as we come up with a decision for the future of this business.

Our newer businesses are also gaining momentum with GoTyme’s customer base expanding rapidly, our logistics joint venture with DHL onboarding more external clients, and our investment in Clark Airport seeing a significant increase in passenger volumes and flights. 

The balance of the decade remains uncertain, mainly caused by the shifting tides in geopolitics along with the advent of new technologies that have the potential to revolutionize the labor and economic terrains. Nonetheless, the lessons we have learned from 2024 have strengthened our resolve to sail forward with confidence, meeting each challenge and embracing the opportunities on the horizon.