Lucio Tan’s LT Group has ‘guarded’ 2020 outlook as coronavirus impacts business

LT Group Inc., the holding company for the businesses of taipan Lucio Tan, on Tuesday said it is keeping a "guarded" outlook given the impact of the coronavirus disease on business.

According to LTG president and chief operating officer Michael Tan, sales of the company's various businesses are expected to drop given as purchasing power remains affected.

"With the COVID-19 pandemic, we have a guarded outlook for 2020," he said during the company's annual stockholders' meeting.

LTG counts as subsidiaries and associates Asia Brewery Inc., Eton Properties Philippines Inc., Philippine Morris Fortune Tobacco Corporation, Paramount Landequities Inc., Philippine National Bank, Saturn Holdings Inc., and Tanduay Distillers Inc.

Aside from sales, Tan noted that some tenants of Eton may end their lease contracts, while PNB will have to grapple with non-performing loans (NPLs) and slower demand for borrowing.

"Even as the economy is restarted under different permutations of the quarantine thereafter, it will take a while before our economy goes back to the normal, or to what it used to be," he said.

"The strong results we had for 2019 gives a strong foundation for our Group, and will hopefully help us weather this pandemic," added Tan.

LTG ended the first quarter of 2020 with a net income of P6.2 billion, up 41% or P1.8 billion from P4.4 billion the same quarter last year.

For the full-year 2019, the company reported an attributable net income of P23.1 billion to reflect a 43% growth or P6.9 billion higher than the P16.2 billion in 2018. — BM, GMA News