PHINMA Corp. is banking on its education and construction materials segments to drive its growth this year, the conglomerate’s chairman said.
“The two major business groups are education and construction materials. Both of them are showing very strong performances,” PHINMA Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ramon R. del Rosario, Jr. said on the sidelines of a launch event last week.
The conglomerate is aiming to continue the growth of its education business, he added.
PHINMA Corp. has business interests in the education sector through its subsidiary, PHINMA Education Holdings, Inc., which manages Horizon Karawang in West Java, Indonesia, as well as other schools in the Philippines such as PHINMA Araullo University in Nueva Ecija
“[The] education [unit] is very stable and on a growth path that has been uninterrupted even during the pandemic. We hope that will continue. We’ve expanded to Indonesia also and we have high aspirations for Indonesia. We hope that Indonesia will show a pattern that is similar to what we are experiencing in the Philippines,” he said.
He added that the conglomerate is focused on helping the underserved areas.
“In Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries, there is also a need for this kind of approach. Our success has attracted the attention of international organizations. That’s why we have been encouraged to look at other countries as well such as Vietnam. We will see what we can do there. Although their educational outcomes are much better than ours already, there are also undeserved sectors there,” he said.
Mr. Del Rosario also said that PHINMA Corp.’s construction materials group is benefiting from the government’s infrastructure push.
“We’re riding the boom of the infrastructure program of the government,” he said.
He added that another growth driver for PHINMA Corp. is its venture into insulated panel production, which could also be used for cold storage facilities.
The company is establishing a P500-million insulation panel plant in Pampanga province, which will be capable of producing one million square meters of insulation panels annually.
PHINMA Corp. recorded a 6.5% increase in its 2023 net income to P1.63 billion. The conglomerate’s consolidated revenues rose by 20% to P21.27 billion.
PHINMA Corp. shares rose by 0.50% or 10 centavos to P20 apiece on Wednesday.—Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
