The National Statistics Office (NSO) said the commodities were traded mostly through water comprising 99.8 percent and 99.7 percent in the first quarter of 2009 and 2010, respectively.

On the other hand, the total value of commodities flowed within the country increased by 10.4 percent to P93.7 billion in the first quarter of 2010 from P84.86 billion in the same period last year.

Shipment through water was the major mode of transport with the same percentage shares of 99.3 percent in the first quarter of 2009.

Among the commodities that were traded in the first quarter of 2010 included food and live animals which contributed the largest share amounting to P27.07 billion (28.9%). This was followed by machinery and transport equipment with P20.45 billion (21.8%) and mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials followed with P16.79 billion (17.9%). Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes shared the least value of P1.65 billion.

Likewise, food and live animals dominated the domestic trade in the first quarter with a share of 32.6 percent (P27.70 billion) of the total value. This was followed by machinery and transport equipment with 18.8 percent share (P15.93 billion), mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials with a share of 14.8 percent share (P12.5 billion). Contributing the least value of P1.03 billion (1.2 percent) was animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes. (mb.com.ph)

RFM reported a net income of P320.8 million for the first five months of the year, more than seven times the net income for the same period last year.

During the firm’s annual stockholders meeting, RFM president Jose A. Concepcion III said “this income growth momentum should bring us to about P400 million by the first half of 2010, well on the way to surpassing our original P500-million target for the full year.

Concepcion attributed the current year’s performance to robust sales results brought about by several product innovations, backed by more aggressive marketing campaigns for almost all the brands under RFM.

He said that, from last year, RFM has increased by 50 percent its investments in marketing to further build brand equity. Revenue growth, coupled with better-managed cost structures and operating efficiencies, have pushed up operating margins this year. (mb.com.ph)

Gainers topped losers 67 to 43 when the market closed and 58 others remained unchanged for the entire market activity on Friday.

SMPH is followed by Banco De Oro Unibank, Inc. (BDO) with 13,886,000 shares traded at a value of P631 million. At number three was Ayala Corporation (AC) with 1,689,000 shares at a value of P550 million.

COmpleting the top 10 active stocks are:

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company “COmmon” (TEL)
Universal Robina Corporation (URC)
Aboitiz Power Corporation (AP)
Energy Development Corporation (EDC)
Manila Electric Company (MER)
Ayala Land Inc., (ALI)
SM Investments Corporation (SM)

Documents filed with the SEC show, Cebu Air is planning an IPO consisting of 125.25 million new shares while current shareholder CPAir Holdings is selling 110.31 million shares plus 35.33 million shares under an over-allotment option.

The firm has given an indicative price of P95 per share although JG Summit corporate planning director Bach Johann Sebastian said “that’s only an indicative price that we placed in our filing.”

He noted that “it is required by the SEC that we indicate any price. But in offerings like this, we’ll determine the price from a formal book building exercise which can only start after our filing is approved by both the SEC and the PSE (Philippine Stock Exchange).”

The firm is planning to list its shares by May 4, 2010 and is expected to launch the share sale sometime next month.

Cebu Air said 164.89 million shares will be sold overseas outside of the United States, 47.11 million shares are being sold through brokers of the PSE while 25.56 million shares have been allocated for local small investors.

The airline has tapped Deutsche Bank AG, Hong Kong Branch and J.P. Morgan (S.E.A) Limited to be the international lead underwriters for the issue while ATR KimEng Capital Partners is the domestic lead under writer.

Net proceeds from the primary portion of the IPO, estimated at P10.11 billion will be used for pre-delivery or down payments for new aircraft, working capital and general corporate purposes including fuel and flying operations-related expenses, maintenance, passenger services, staff expenses and other related items.

Cebu Air intends to increase its fleet size to 47 planes by 2014 from the current 29 and has firm orders for 15 Airbus A320 aircraft, options for five Airbus A320, operating lease for two Airbus A320, and plan to acquire two more Airbus A320 through lease or purchase.

The firm said the additional planes will support its plans to increase frequency on current routes and to add new city pairs and destinations.

Over the next two years, the airline plans to add new international destinations such as Brunei, Beijing, Denpasar, Fukuoka, and Nagoya, and new domestic destinations such as Pagadian and Marinduque. (www.mb.com.ph)

The company, which tallies a 52 week high of 3.90 and a 52 week low of 0.20, ended with a volume of 1,000 with a 2,000 value to lead the top 10 top gainers.

Completing the list of top gainers are the following:

2. Unioil Resources & Holdings Company, Inc. (UNI)

3. Basic Energy Corporation (BSC)

4. Atok-Big Wedge Company, Inc. “B” (ABB)

5. DMCI Holdings, Inc. (DMC)

6. IP E-Game Ventures, Inc. (EG)

7. Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPI)

8. Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. (GSMI)

9. Splash Corporation (SPH)

10. South China Resources, Inc. (SOC)

While All Shares rose 0.0504 percent, Financials, Industrial, Services, and Mining and Oil dropped relatively although Holding Firms and Property tallied high at market end.

There were 37 advances against the 56 declines and 67 remained unchanged in the market that saw a volume of 850 billion with 7,345 trades.

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The Minimum Public Ownership (MPO) rule has passed through various debates across the terms of various boards of directors of the PSE until 2005 when the rule was revoked as a continuing listing requirement and instead imposed as a requirement only for initial listing and backdoor listing applications.

The MPO rule is in line with the Capital Market Development Plan Action which aims to provide a fair and efficient facility for price discovery and to ensure that sufficient liquidity exists.

The proposed new rule will be disseminated to the public through the PSE website (www.pse.com.ph) for public comments before it is transmitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission for approval. (mb.com.ph)

Phoenix Petroleum president and chief executive officer Dennis A. Uy said they are scouting for either local or foreign partner which shares the company’s vision of beefing up capital for expansion prospects.

While the oil firm executive indicated that they are now in talks with several parties, he sought media’s indulgence to keep their identities for now.

The company has just unveiled investment plans that will further build up its retail network in Luzon and Mindanao. It must be noted that Phoenix Petroleum first established its business base in Mindanao; and it only started moving to Luzon after acquisition of its depot facility in Batangas.

The investments for retail expansion, the company executive added, “will be a mix of Luzon and Mindanao where we have our terminal facilities.”

On top of the plan to bring in financial partner, the company is similarly working on prospects for a follow-on offering at the Philippine Stock Exchange in the next three years.

“We are planning to have follow-on offering in the next three years… the shares to be offered will be up to 20 percent,” Uy said.

Even prospects of mergers and consolidation among players are in the company’s radar for future acquisition opportunities, still as a part of its portfolio-shoring up opportunities.

“We will also be looking at people or players who are open for mergers and acquisitions so long as this is aligned with our objectives,” Uy noted.

The company just recently sealed agreement with Social Security System (SSS) on the latter’s capital stock subscription wherein it was given the option for an aggregate 10 percent equity take in the oil company. (mb.com.ph)

The region’s currencies are under increasing pressure to rise as a result of their faster economic turnaround, it said.

“In both nominal and real terms, several currencies have gained significant value against their trading partners since March this year, while some others have effectively depreciated as they have tracked US dollar movements,” the ADB said in the December issue of its semiannual publication Asia Economic Monitor.

“A coordinated regional exchange rate strategy should be explored,” the ADB said. It added that this would bolster intraregional trade and lower the fear of losing export competitiveness between neighbors.

The Manila-based multilateral lender, however, doesn’t have a specific recommendation on how countries can achieve such a coordinated policy.

“This is more a political, than economic, decision,” Lei Lei Song, an economist at the ADB’s Office of Regional Economic Integration, told Dow Jones Newswires in a telephone interview.

“This is a very difficult issue and it may need some countries to take the initiative to discuss these issues.”

“The Chinese economy is the biggest in the region after Japan. If China could take the initiative to discuss at least at the policy makers’ level, then it would be much easier for regional cooperation to go forward to the next level,” Song said. (mb.com.ph)