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Converge Keeps Building as Margins Narrow, Keeping Borrowing a Necessity

  Philippine broadband provider spent ₱5.7 billion on capital expenditures in the first half, while slower growth and rising costs pressured earnings Converge ICT Solutions Inc. continued pouring money into its fiber network during the first half of 2026, betting that broader coverage will eventually produce new customers and recurring revenue even as the company’s profitability weakened. The Philippine broadband provider spent about ₱5.7 billion on capital expenditures and intangible assets during the six months ended June, more than double the roughly ₱2.6 billion spent in the comparable period a year earlier. Much of the investment supported continued network expansion, including Converge’s effort to deepen its presence in the Visayas and Mindanao and build approximately 900,000 additional fiber ports during the year.  That spending underscores Converge's central challenge. The company must continue building infrastructure to secure future growth, but the financial returns...
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Gotianuns Raise EastWest Capital Priced Below Book, Dividends May Take a Back Seat

  EastWest’s ₱9 billion rights offering would strengthen capital after rapid asset growth and heavy credit provisions, but issuing shares at a deep discount could dilute book value and place near-term shareholder payouts under pressure. MANILA, Aug. 27, 2026 | East West Banking Corp.’s controlling shareholders are preparing to put more money into the bank, just months after collecting its largest dividend yet. The Gotianun family’s Filinvest Development Corp. and affiliated companies have committed to support EastWest’s proposed ₱9 billion stock-rights offering , including taking up shares left unsubscribed by other investors. EastWest says the capital will finance loan growth, wealth and priority banking, digital investments and other corporate purposes while strengthening the balance sheet. Final pricing, entitlement ratios and the offering timetable remain subject to regulatory approvals and haven’t been announced. The transaction looks less like an emergency rescue than a reco...
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To Conserve Cash, SM May Merge Atlas Into an Enlarged Dominion, Then Distribute Dominion Shares as Dividends

  Dominion Holdings could absorb the companies controlling Tampakan, merge with Atlas Mining, and become widely held after SM Investments distributes its Dominion shares. The ambitious sequence would conserve cash, but valuations, shareholder votes and billions of dollars in mine financing stand in the way. The Sy family’s effort to build a Philippine mining champion began with a listed holding company, a producing copper mine, and one of Southeast Asia’s largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits. The harder question is how to put those pieces together without exhausting the cash needed to operate and develop them. Dominion Holdings Inc., controlled by the Sy family’s privately held Monte Sur Equity Holdings Inc. and chaired by Isidro Consunji, has begun assembling a mining portfolio around Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. and the Tampakan copper-gold project in Mindanao. The first confirmed step is a proposed share-swap merger with Indophil Resources Phils. Inc. and ...
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Puregold’s Sales Rise, but Supplier Payments Force a Draw on Investments

  The Philippine retailer posted stronger first-half sales and wider margins, but supplier payments and inventory spending forced it to draw on investments and short-term borrowing. Puregold Price Club Inc. delivered the kind of first-half operating performance retailers usually welcome: faster sales, a healthier gross margin and evidence that shoppers continued to move through its stores. The cash-flow statement told a more complicated story. Sales at the Philippine grocery retailer rose 10.6% in the first half of 2026, while gross profit margin improved by 40 basis points to 19.5%. The results suggest Puregold, whose shares trade under the ticker PGOLD, was able to retain more of each peso collected at the checkout counter after accounting for the cost of merchandise. Yet the company’s operating cash flow fell to negative ₱3.79 billion. Large payments to suppliers, additional inventory stocking, and advances to suppliers absorbed more cash than the business generated during the p...
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Metro Retail Resets Dividend Expectations as Expansion Absorbs Cash

  The Visayas-based retailer has held its regular payout at ₱0.06 a share, far below 2024’s special-dividend-enhanced total, as investors weigh improving profits against the cash demands of a growing store network CEBU, Philippines . Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. is teaching shareholders the difference between a dependable dividend and an exceptional one. The Visayas-based retailer, known by its stock-market symbol MRSGI, declared a ₱0.06 per share cash dividend  for 2026 , matching the regular payout in 2025. The figure is nevertheless sharply below the ₱0.16 distributed in 2024 , when the company paid a regular ₱0.06 dividend alongside an additional ₱0.10 payment. That makes the latest distribution a 62.5% reduction from the unusually generous 2024 total. For income-oriented investors, the distinction matters. A company that cuts its recurring dividend sends a different signal than one that simply declines to repeat a special distribution. MRSGI’s record suggests that ₱0.06...
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RRHI’s Public-Market Farewell Is Clouded by Losses on Hard-Discount Investments and Rising Finance Costs

  The retailer’s sales are still growing, but losses at HD Retail, heavier interest charges and rising operating expenses cloud its departure from the Philippine Stock Exchange. MANILA— Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. is preparing to bid goodbye to the public market with a familiar retail paradox: Its stores are selling more, but an expanding collection of costs and investment losses is making that growth less rewarding. For the six months ended June 30, 2026, the Gokongwei-controlled retailer reported net sales of ₱106.75 billion , up 8.4% from ₱98.48 billion a year earlier. Gross profit rose 8.6% to ₱25.98 billion , helped by a sprawling portfolio that includes supermarkets, drugstores, department stores, hardware outlets, convenience stores and specialty retailers. Yet the gains at the checkout counter didn’t fully reach the bottom line. Operating expenses grew 11.4% to ₱22.62 billion , faster than both sales and gross profit. Meanwhile, RRHI’s share of losses from associates ro...
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