the Outsider - PSE Points to Ponder

After six years of rapid payout growth, the Philippine utility’s earnings-based dividend framework faces a consequential question: Who should bear the cost of electricity that never reaches the meter? For much of this decade, Manila Electric Company has offered shareholders something increasingly scarce: a dividend that has not merely held steady but climbed with remarkable consistency. From 2020 through 2026, Meralco’s cash distributions increased from ₱9.984 to ₱28.430 per share , based on dividends paid within each calendar year. That works out to compound annual growth of roughly 19 percent —an unusually strong record for a mature electric utility, a category typically prized for stability rather than rapid expansion. The progression has been almost uninterrupted. Annual dividends rose to ₱12.881 per share in 2021, ₱16.032 in 2022, ₱19.548 in 2023, ₱21.530 in 2024, and ₱25.064 in 2025. The two payments scheduled for 2026—₱16.672 in April and ₱11.758 in September—bring the calendar-...

  In the Philippines’ largest conglomerates, the most important businesses are not always the ones on the billboards. At the parent-company level, the Gokongweis, the Aboitizes and the Consunjis all leaned in 2025 on a quieter engine of wealth: dividends remitted from electricity and water franchises, or from utility-like assets built to throw off cash with a regularity consumer brands, property and cyclical industrials often cannot match.  That matters because listed holding companies ultimately live on upstream cash. Their job is not simply to own assets, but to convert those assets into funds that can service debt, pay shareholders and finance the next round of bets. By that measure, 2025 offered a striking lesson in how the country’s old-line business families now make money: the parent-level cash machine is increasingly powered by regulated or utility-style franchises, not just by food, real estate, airlines or construction.  For JG Summit Holdings Inc. , the surpris...

  For years, JG Summit Holdings Inc. was known first for the businesses the Gokongwei family built and controlled — from Universal Robina Corp. to Robinsons Land Corp. and Cebu Air Inc. But in 2025, the most important cash engine at the parent company came from a different corner of the portfolio: Manila Electric Co.   At the parent-company level, Meralco delivered about ₱7.45 billion in dividends to JG Summit in 2025, made up of a ₱4.08 billion payout declared in February and another ₱3.37 billion declared in July . That was enough to overtake Universal Robina Corp. , JG Summit’s flagship food unit, which contributed about ₱5.11 billion through two dividends of ₱2.43 billion and ₱2.68 billion . In other words, the Gokongweis’ long-standing stake in the country’s biggest power distributor produced roughly ₱2.34 billion more cash for the parent than its core branded-food subsidiary. The numbers underscore how valuable the Meralco investment has become for the holding c...

We’ve been blogging for free. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us! Disclaimer:  This is for informational purposes and is  not  investment advice. Figures are taken from company disclosures and exchange data; valuation ratios include the author’s calculations based on cited inputs. Meralco is doing what mature, cash-generative franchises are supposed to do after a strong year: share more of the spoils . In a board decision dated February 25, 2026 , Manila Electric Co. approved a final cash dividend of ₱16.672 per share , payable on April 20, 2026 to shareholders on record as of March 26, 2026 .  That final payout brings total dividends declared out of 2025 core consolidated net income (CCNI) to ₱28.00 per share —a level Meralco itself frames as roughly 62.5% of core earnings per share . In other words, the board is telling investors: 2025 was strong enough not only to fund expansion, but also to raise the income stream that has long anchored the stock’...