JG Summit Holdings Inc. (JGS) held steady in the first half, booking P15 billion in net income, unchanged from a year ago, as stronger core operations and non-core income balanced out the absence of last year’s one-off bank merger gains.

The Gokongwei-led conglomerate said in a Monday disclosure that robust results from its listed subsidiaries and reduced losses from its petrochemical business drove earnings. 

For the second quarter alone, net income surged 175 percent year on year to P10.7 billion, in line with core profit growth.

Consolidated revenues in the first half rose 3 percent to P194 billion, supported by higher sales in its airline, property, and food and beverage businesses, which offset lower petrochemical sales from the shutdown of its plant earlier this year.

Excluding the petrochemical business, revenues grew 12 percent in the first half.

Core net income fell 19 percent to P14.8 billion due to the absence of last year’s merger gain, but recurring core earnings improved 14 percent to P11.6 billion.

“We continue to see sustained topline performance from our core business units as we benefit from improving consumer sentiment driven by easing inflation," JGS President and CEO Lance Y. Gokongwei said.

"This growth has trickled down to improving core earnings, further helped by the lower losses from the shutdown of our Petrochemicals facility," he added.

As of end-June, the group’s consolidated debt-to-equity ratio stood at 0.61, while net debt-to-equity was 0.49.

The parent company received P11.7 billion in dividends in the first half, 13 percent higher year on year.