LT Group Inc., the holding company of most of tycoon Lucio Tan's businesses, hit an attributable net income of P20.41 billion for the first nine months of the year.

In a statement over the weekend, the company said the bottom line growth was a 101 percent jump from the P9.95 billion during the same period last year despite major business units posting lower profits.

The tobacco business accounted for the highest share at 59 percent or P12 billion of the total attributable income during the period.

PNB income down
Meanwhile, the publicly-listed PNB posted a P12.95 billion net income under the pooling method from January to September. It was 53 percent lower than its year-ago level of P24.44 billion, which included a P33.60 gain from transferring real estate assets into PNB Holdings Corporation.

The bank's net interest income was P26.78 billion, four percent or P1.02 billion higher than the reported P25.76 billion a year ago.

However, its net service fees and commission income were P315 million or 8 percent lower at P3.55 billion, from last year's P3.87 billion.

Tobacco volume up
Citing government data, the LTG Group noted that the tobacco industry's volume was estimated at 40 billion sticks in the first nine months, 3.1 percent or 1.2 billion sticks lower than the same period last year.

Its tobacco business, PMFTC Inc., reported a net income of P12.04 billion from January to September, P1.28 billion or 10 percent lower than the P13.32 billion reported last year. Volume was 4.5 percent lower year-on-year.

According to LTG, the government continued its efforts against the illicit trade with 231 enforcements in the first three quarters compared to 139 last year.

Under Republic Act 11346, there was a P5 per pack increase in excise taxes on 1 January 2021, per pack of 20 sticks, and another P5 per pack increase to P55 starting 1 January.