The century-old holding company saw first-half profit nearly sixfold to P7.46 billion, largely after the rising share price of tycoon Enrique Razon Jr.’s International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) delivered a P6.43-billion paper gain.
That makes ICTSI, now the first Philippine index stock to cross P2 trillion in market value, an unusually powerful earnings driver for A. Soriano despite the group selling most of its stake nearly two decades ago.
The price of ICTSI, the world’s largest independent operator of cargo ports, has more than doubled over the past year. At P963 per share, the company is valued at P1.94 trillion.
Andres Soriano III is chair and CEO of A. Soriano Corp. and remains a director of ICTSI, reflecting the families’ longstanding ties even as A. Soriano’s ownership has fallen to less than 1 percent.
From founding bet to global giant
The Soriano family, also the previous owners of San Miguel Corp., were among ICTSI’s seed investors in 1988, joining Razon and other partners in the company that won the concession to operate the Manila International Container Terminal during the first Aquino administration.
A. Soriano sold 503.3 million ICTSI shares, then representing 23 percent, to Razon for P5.91 billion in 2006.
That stake would be worth more than P450 billion today, although the exit was already highly profitable at the time, delivering what the company described as a 22-percent annual return over 18 years.
The sale, which proved prescient ahead of the 2008 global financial crisis, came before ICTSI’s biggest years of growth.
As the port operator expanded globally and eventually crossed P2 trillion in market value in 2026, even the relatively small stake A. Soriano kept grew into a major asset.
Amanpulo, Phelps Dodge
A. Soriano today has businesses spanning manufacturing, aviation and tourism, with first-half revenue excluding investment gains rising 13 percent to P8.27 billion.
Its Phelps Dodge Philippines wire business grew profit 40 percent to P559.3 million, as price adjustments helped counter a 10-percent drop in volume and rising copper costs.
Seven Seas, which owns luxury island resort Amanpulo in Palawan, grew revenue 7.6 percent to P925.9 million as occupancy improved to 54.1 percent, although profit fell 19 percent to P121.6 million as higher utility and air-charter costs squeezed margins.
—Edited by Miguel R. Camus
