the Outsider - PSE Points to Ponder

  For years, PLDT was treated by income investors as something close to a utility with a generous cheque attached. Its networks carried calls, data, and broadband traffic; its shares carried the promise of yield. But the first quarter of 2026 suggests that Manny V. Pangilinan’s telecoms flagship is entering a more austere dividend age: not one of abrupt retreat, but of careful, deliberate trimming. The evidence is hiding in plain sight. PLDT declared a regular common dividend of ₱46 per share for the first quarter of 2026, down from ₱47 per share a year earlier. The decline is only one peso, hardly dramatic. Yet it matters because it confirms the direction of policy. PLDT’s dividend is not being abandoned; it is being rationed. The company’s own numbers explain why. PLDT reported telco core income of ₱8.58 billion in the first quarter, down 2% from ₱8.78 billion in the same period last year. This is the critical measure. Since 2019, PLDT has based its regular dividend payout o...

In the first quarter of 2026, two of the Philippines’ most closely watched food-and-beverage empires delivered a study in contrasts: Ramon Ang’s San Miguel Food and Beverage Inc. showed the strength of scale, while Betty Ang’s Monde Nissin Corp. showed the power of margin recovery and faster growth. Ramon S. Ang is chairman of San Miguel Food and Beverage and chairman and CEO of San Miguel Corp., while Betty T. Ang has been Monde Nissin’s president and director for more than 45 years. SMFB remained the heavyweight. Its first-quarter sales reached ₱103.1 billion , more than four times Monde Nissin’s ₱22.8 billion net sales, underscoring San Miguel’s commanding position across beer, spirits, and food. But the smaller Monde Nissin moved faster: sales rose 9.1% , outpacing SMFB’s 4.3% growth, as demand across its Asia-Pacific branded food business and a rebound in meat alternatives lifted the top line. The divergence was sharper at the profit line. Monde Nissin’s net income jumped 34.1% ...

  San Miguel Food and Beverage Inc., one of the core consumer arms of the San Miguel group led by Ramon S. Ang, opened 2026 with a performance that does not scream acceleration — but does signal durability. For the first quarter ended March 31, SMFB reported ₱103.1 billion in consolidated sales, up 4% from a year earlier. Net income rose 2% to ₱11.8 billion , while net income attributable to the parent increased 4% to ₱7.8 billion . The numbers reinforce SMFB’s role as a defensive pillar of the broader San Miguel empire: a branded consumer franchise that can still expand revenues, protect margins, and generate cash even as households face inflation, fuel-price pressure, higher excise taxes, and softer discretionary spending. Yet the quarter also showed the limits of defensive growth. SMFB is not immune to a tougher environment. Its beer business saw volume pressure, operating cash flow weakened relative to last year, and overall profit growth was more measured than the stronger...

Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc. has long marketed itself as a diversified holding company spanning liquor, property, gaming, tourism, and quick-service restaurants. But at the parent-company level in 2025, the cash story was far more concentrated: Emperador Inc. supplied nearly half of Alliance Global’s dividend income , while Megaworld Corp., the group’s property flagship, contributed ₱1.65 billion . Alliance Global’s separate financial statements show that the parent company booked ₱4.916 billion in dividend income in 2025, down from ₱5.407 billion a year earlier. Of that total, Emperador delivered ₱2.377 billion , equivalent to about 48% of the parent’s dividend revenue. Megaworld, despite being one of the group’s most visible listed operating companies, contributed ₱1.650 billion , or roughly 34% of Alliance Global’s dividend income. The numbers underline a subtle but important point about Alliance Global’s parent company's economics: the holding company is not mere...

  Monde Nissin Corp.’s most scrutinized business may finally be showing signs of life. The Philippine food maker controlled by entrepreneur Betty Ang reported a sharp improvement in its Meat Alternative segment in the first quarter of 2026, offering investors the clearest evidence yet that the company’s long-troubled plant-based meat bet is beginning to stabilize. The segment, which includes Quorn, swung to core income after tax at ownership of ₱87 million , reversing a ₱58 million loss a year earlier, while core EBITDA more than doubled to ₱325 million from ₱140 million .  For a company whose domestic noodles, biscuits, cakes, and beverages business has remained a dependable cash generator, the performance of Meat Alternatives has been the overhang. Monde’s acquisition-led push into plant-based protein once promised global growth, but the category’s slowdown, inflationary pressure, and operational challenges turned it into a drag on earnings and sentiment. Q1 2026 suggests t...

Dennis Uy’s Converge ICT Solutions Inc. is beginning to look more like the kind of telecom infrastructure company Philippine investors have seen before: one that borrows to fund network expansion while continuing to reward shareholders with generous dividends. The resemblance is not exact. Converge remains far less leveraged than PLDT Inc. was during its heavier investment cycles, and its enterprise and data-center ambitions suggest it is still in expansion mode rather than simply defending a mature franchise. But its first-quarter 2026 results show a capital allocation pattern that is becoming harder to ignore: free cash flow fell short of dividends, debt increased, and management continued investing for growth. Converge reported ₱11.19 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2026, up 4% year-on-year from ₱10.80 billion . Net income, however, was essentially flat at ₱3.02 billion , while earnings per share stayed unchanged at ₱0.42 .  That combination — modest revenue growth...

  Emperador Inc.’s first-quarter numbers tell two stories at once. On the surface, the Philippine-listed spirits maker delivered a stronger operating performance: sales rose, margins widened and profit edged higher. But beneath that improvement sits a more cautious capital-allocation message—one that helps explain why the company’s dividend distribution has become more conservative. The distilled spirits group declared a ₱0.1351 per-share cash dividend in January 2026 , equivalent to about ₱2.13 billion , down sharply from ₱0.1900 per share, or ₱2.99 billion, in 2025 , and far below the ₱0.2900 per share, or ₱4.56 billion, declared in 2023 . The cut is not happening against a backdrop of collapsing earnings. Instead, it appears to reflect management’s decision to preserve cash while funding Scotch Whisky expansion and absorbing higher financing costs.  Emperador’s first-quarter sales from goods and services rose 6% year on year to ₱12.87 billion , while gross profit climbed 16...

  Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. is approaching its planned exit from the Philippine Stock Exchange with a message that is both reassuring and complicated: the stores are still growing, but the balance sheet is now doing more of the explaining. The Gokongwei-led retailer posted a strong first quarter operationally, with consolidated net sales rising 10.3% to ₱52.8 billion , supported by 4.1% same-store sales growth , new store contributions and the full-quarter consolidation of Premiumbikes. Core net income rose 6.2% to ₱1.3 billion , suggesting that the underlying retail engine remains healthy even as the company prepares to leave the public market. But the headline profit told a weaker story. Net income attributable to equity holders of the parent fell 35.6% to ₱489 million , dragged down by higher interest expense tied to the DFI share buyback and BPI-related debt, deeper losses from associates, lower dividend income and foreign-exchange losses. That tension — strong stores, wea...