THE Trade department’s micro, small and medium enterprise development financing arm, Small Business Corp. (SB Corp.), has set a target of P460 million in net operating income this year after setting a record in 2024.
On the sidelines of a briefing on Friday, SB Corp. President Robert C. Bastillo said the company’s 2025 target is double the 2024 goal.
“The target is still over P400 million,” Mr. Bastillo said, adding that the company will seek to stretch performance to as much as P500 million.
If net operating income hits P500 million, it would represent a 15.9% increase from the P431.1 million booked last year.
The 2024 result was nearly double the performance of the last full pre-pandemic year, when it booked P228.6 million.
He said the revenue target is P1.2 billion in 2025, which would represent a 20% increase from the 2024 performance.
“The corporate losses of the past few years were largely due to SB Corp.’s countercyclical role in the Philippine financial system and prudent provisioning for the mandated COVID-related accounts,” Mr. Bastillo said.
“However, we believe that the corporation’s performance in 2024 signals a new chapter of growth and financial sustainability,” he added.
According to SB Corp., the positive results can be attributed to streamlined and faster loan application and approval processes, enhanced governance, and a commitment to financing 100% of all approved loan applications.
SB Corp. lent to over 61,000 businesses last year, with a target of at least 65,000 businesses in 2025.
On Friday, the Department of Trade and Industry and SB Corp. announced the launch of three more lending programs due to be up and running next month.
These are the receivables financing (P200 million), Creative Industry Fund (P500 million), and Halal Financing (P500 million) programs.
SB Corp.’s other loan programs are Enterprise Rehabilitation Financing (P2 billion), Franchise Funding (P1 billion), Business Expansion Financing (P1 billion), Regular Business Loan (P3 billion), and Purchase Order Financing (P500 million). — Justine Irish D. Tabile
