San Miguel Corporation

San Miguel Corporation

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Q2 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptAugust 17, 2026

Moderator

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the combined 2026 first semester results analyst briefing.

I am Jericho and I will be your moderator for today. A few reminders before we begin.

Number one, questions will be entertained only at the end of the presentation and only via the Q&A feature. Number two, questions sent through the chat box will not be entertained.

Number three, please be reminded that this webinar is recorded. Allow me now to introduce our panelists for this afternoon.

We are joined here today by Miss Chesca Tenorio, VP and Head of Corporate Financial Planning and Investor Relations, Miss Tatish Palabyab, SMC Chief Sustainability Advisor, Miss Monica Ang-Mercado, San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc. CFO, Miss Tina Garcia, SMFB Investor Relations Head, and Mr.

Erich Pe Lim, Petron Corporation Investor Relations Head. We'd also like to acknowledge the presence of other key executives of the group who will be joining us in this call.

I now turn you over to Miss Chesca Tenorio to discuss the SMC Group's financial and operational results.

Chesca Tenorio

Thank you, Jericho. Good afternoon and welcome to San Miguel Corporation's combined first half 2026 results analyst briefing.

We are very pleased to report that despite a more challenging operating environment, the SMC Group delivered resilient first half results, demonstrating the strength of our diversified portfolio and the continued execution of our long-term growth strategy. Let me begin with an overview of the key developments and drivers behind our performance during the period.

The first half of 2026 was marked by a more challenging operating environment in the Philippines, with GDP growth slowing to 2.3% in the second quarter and 2.6% for the first half. Weaker investment activity, softer consumer spending, elevated inflation, peso depreciation, and disruptions arising from tensions in the Middle East weighed on overall business and consumer sentiment.

Despite these headwinds, SMC delivered resilient first half results. Core net income rose significantly, while consolidated operating income grew by 17%, reflecting the resilience of our diversified portfolio.

Although second quarter performance was affected by the Middle East crisis and foreign exchange movements, the group continued to benefit from solid top-line growth, steady domestic demand, and stronger contributions from the energy, food, spirits, and infrastructure businesses. On the sustainability front, SMC continued to advance its sustainability agenda in the first half of 2026, moving from establishing key frameworks toward greater integration into business operations and decision-making.

Key progress included advancing in the climate risk assessment, net-zero roadmap, and people upliftment framework alongside the publication of the 2025 sustainability report. Flagship initiatives such as the Better Rivers program continued to deliver measurable environmental and social outcomes, while stronger internal engagement and sustainability governance supported SMC's focus on long-term resilience, value creation, and sustainable growth.

We will discuss these developments in greater detail in the succeeding slides. Let's now take a closer look at the group's financial performance.

San Miguel Corporation remains resilient in the first half of 2026, with its diversified portfolio supporting strong performance despite heightened external challenges. For the first semester of 2026, the group generated consolidated revenues of 964.1 billion pesos, up 34% from last year.

Growth was driven by higher average selling price and volumes at Petron, sustained strength in the energy business, and solid food business, led by record high feeds volumes and continued support from Magnolia Dairy. This growth was achieved despite more pronounced headwinds in the second quarter, when the Middle East crisis and foreign exchange movements weighed on Petron's margins.

The resilience of the group's diversified portfolio, supported by stronger contributions from the energy and other key businesses, helped cushion these pressures and brought consolidated operating income for the first half to 102.3 billion pesos, and that's 17% higher year-on-year. Consolidated reported net income reached 37.7 billion pesos, 44% lower than last year, but this is mainly reflecting the absence of prior-year one-off gains and the impact of a 16.5 billion foreign exchange loss from the peso depreciation.

Stripping out these non-core items, consolidated net income would have grown 48% to 54.2 billion, reinforcing the strength of the group's core earnings. Now to walk us through the performance of San Miguel Food and Beverage, I'll turn the floor over to Tina.

Tina Garcia

Thank you, Chesca. San Miguel Food and Beverage remained resilient through the first half of the year, supported by the strength of our operations and the hard work of our teams despite high inflation, slower growth, and geopolitical disruption.

Let me start with the macro conditions. The economy grew 2.8% in the first quarter and household spending was 3% down from 5.8% in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Inflation moved from 2% in January to 4.1% in March, led by transport at 9.9% as the Middle East conflict pushed up fuel costs. That pressure intensified through the second quarter, with inflation reaching 6.8% and the peso weakening 4.6%, which raised the cost of our imported inputs.

Consolidated sales reached 205.3 billion, 2% higher, led by the continued growth in food. Food grew 5% on volumes, spirits was steady, and beer eased 1%.

Food and beer are still our largest contributors at 48% and 36% of sales, with spirits at 16%. Gross profit was steady at 58.4 billion, supported by revenue growth and efficient cost management.

The earnings pressure this first half came through operating expenses rather than the top line or the gross margin, mainly on higher freight and handling costs and the cost of running new facilities. Income from operations and net income both eased 4% to 28.8 billion and 22.1 billion, with both margins easing 1 percentage point.

EBITDA was 1% lower, 38.8 billion, with margin at 19%. Beer is still the largest contributor at 50% of income from operations and 52% of net income.

Food follows at 31% and 30%, and spirits at 19% and 20%. Despite these pressures, demand across our core categories remained relatively stable.

We closed the first half with total equity of 205.3 billion, up 4%, alongside improved liquidity and leverage ratios. Next slide, please.

Turning to the food business, food revenue rose 5% to 99.3 billion, driven by the feeds segment and sustained demand for branded products. Animal nutrition and health had its best first-half volume ever, up 26%.

This was driven by nature growth in hog feeds, supported by product enhancements, effective sales and marketing programs, farm conversions, and industry repopulation. Layer, free-range, and broiler feeds also posted strong gains.

Volumes grew double digit across every channel, more notably from feed store due to improved distribution and trade execution. Feeds accounted for most of food's added sales.

Protein sales eased 5% to 35.9 billion amid a challenging industry supply situation and softer demand. While poultry volumes remained stable, the sustained influx of imported frozen chicken continued to weigh on chicken prices, which averaged 5% below last year's levels.

Industry frozen chicken inventory rose from 57.5 million kilos at the end of 2025 to 68.1 million kilos by June 2026, with imports accounting for 69% of total stocks. As the shortfall was driven by weaker pricing rather than lower volumes, it cut directly into profitability.

There are early signs of improvement. Chicken prices have gradually recovered since April, although they remain below year-ago levels.

Demand in the second quarter remained resilient, particularly from food service and wet market channels, helping support a more positive outlook for the business. Monterey Meats also returned to profit given a more focused business scheme, a better channel mix, and improved farm efficiency.

Prepared and packaged food grew sales 5% on stronger volumes, better prices, and improved product mix, supported by Magnolia Dairy and coffee, Purefoods luncheon meats, and Pinoy favorites. Our economy brand Star and Vongga also contributed to the top line as consumers sought affordable yet trusted alternatives.

Flour sales eased as customers moved to lower-priced alternatives, including imported flour. Our fighting brands, bakery ingredients, and retail premixes offset part of that, and operating income still improved on wheat costs that were below last year's levels.

For food overall, gross profit grew 4% to 22 billion, helped by favorable prices for most raw materials and by deliberate cost reduction efforts across operations. Operating income increased 2% to 8.8 billion, EBITDA was 5% higher at 13.8 billion, and net income rose 8% to 6.4 billion.

Favorable input prices and cost discipline helped the business cope with high inflation and the impact of the Middle East conflict and sustain margins. Next slide, please.

Moving on to the beer business, beer remained the group's largest earnings contributor, although sales eased 1% to 73.7 billion as consumers became more selective with discretionary spending amid elevated inflation and a weaker peso. Domestic sales remained steady at 66 billion, supported by the January price adjustment implemented to offset higher excise taxes, despite a 5% moderation in volume.

First quarter volume was partly affected by the trade's inventory build-up in December 2025 ahead of the adjustment, while second quarter performance reflected more cautious consumer spending amid elevated inflation. The June earthquake in Mindanao also temporarily affected volumes in the region.

We continued investing in our brands with campaigns and sponsorships across our portfolio alongside intensified sales and distribution initiatives that helped cushion the volume shortfall. Domestic operating income closed at 13.4 billion, 5% below last year, as lower volumes, higher fuel prices, and excise taxes and fixed costs offset the pricing gain.

International sales were 7.7 billion, 7% lower or 11% lower in dollar terms at $128.5 million, primarily because the Middle East conflict affected our exports business. That was partly offset by growth in the domestic operations of our international markets, with stronger sales in Indonesia, South China, and Hong Kong, and higher San Miguel brand volumes in Vietnam.

Operating income declined on lower volumes, higher production costs driven by aluminum can prices, and increased distribution expenses, including freight subsidies. We are now gearing up for export recovery as conditions ease.

For the beer business, consolidated operating income was down 11% to 14.4 billion and net income declined 12% to 11.4 billion. EBITDA was 19 billion, 7% lower.

Higher container amortization and the distribution costs from the conflict added to the decline. Next slide, please.

Turning now to the spirits business, spirits revenue was steady at 32.3 billion as higher pricing offset softer volumes. Volume eased 5%, reflecting more careful consumer spending against the elevated inflation and slower economic growth which I described earlier.

Our core brands held up well, supported by campaigns and in-store promotions that reinforced value and affordability. We also widened the portfolio and route to market, launching Vamos Tequila Gold in May and adding dealer routes, wholesalers, and warehouses, and exports grew as we reached overseas Filipinos in more countries.

Profitability improved despite lower volumes. Gross profit rose 5% to 8.9 billion, helped by lower molasses and alcohol costs, better distillery efficiency, and use of more second-hand bottles.

Operating income rose 8% to 5.4 billion, EBITDA was up 3% to 5.8 billion, and margin improved from 17% to 18%. Net income increased 3% to 4.4 billion.

That concludes the update for San Miguel Food and Beverage. I would now like to invite Erich to present the updates on Petron.

Erich Pe Lim

Thank you, Tina. For the first half of 2026, Petron Corporation reported a net income of 3.8 billion pesos, 27% lower than the same period last year, due to a challenging external environment mainly attributed to the continued impact of the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

The war has pushed freight costs, insurance, and import premiums to record highs. Excluding trading activities, total volumes in the Philippines and Malaysia reached 52.9 million barrels during the period, down from 56.2 million barrels last year.

This is due to a number of factors, namely lower refining output as a jetty port in the Port Dickson refinery in Malaysia is still being constructed, a scheduled first-quarter maintenance at the Bataan refinery, and lastly, volumes strategically being funneled to more profitable business segments. This is most evident in the continued growth of the vital and profitable retail business in the Philippines, which continued its notable growth momentum, recording an outstanding 15% year-on-year growth as more motorists chose Petron due to competitive pricing and fuel availability and reliability.

Revenues rose 57% to 605.9 billion on the back of higher prices and overall sales volume improvement. However, higher costs of products sold, both from production and importation, together with higher operating expenses, weighed on margins.

Consequently, operating income fell to 12.6 billion pesos, while EBITDA likewise decreased to 19.8 billion pesos. That concludes the update on Petron's results.

I will now hand the presentation back to Chesca to discuss the performance of the group's remaining business.

Chesca Tenorio

Thank you, Erich. Let me now continue with the performance of the remaining businesses in the group.

The packaging group's first half revenues remained steady at 19.3 billion, as strong gains from international operations offset lower demand in its core domestic businesses, particularly in the glass segment, due to the slowdown in market consumption of its food and beverage customers. Despite cost saving initiatives, lower demand and significantly higher fuel and power rates weighed on the business and more than offset these measures.

As a result, operating income declined to 1.2 billion pesos, while EBITDA fell to 2.5 billion pesos. Moving on to our power business, revenues rose 27% year-on-year to 101.9 billion, driven by the recovery of tariffs representing pass-through power supply costs incurred in 2022, higher realization rates, and the contributions of the five BESS facilities commissioned in 2025 and fully operational in 2026 with a combined capacity of 140 megawatt-hours.

Revenue growth was further supported by new power supply agreements supplied by the Mariveles, Masinloc, and San Roque power plants with a combined contracted capacity of 1,140 megawatts. These PSAs took effect in June, August, and September 2025, respectively.

Excluding the impact of the recovery of incremental power supply costs, revenue growth would still be at 7%. Operating income surged 90% to 42 billion pesos, with operating margins expanding significantly to 41% from 28% on account of previously unrecognized revenues, better contract terms, and increased contributions from BESS facilities.

Meanwhile, EBITDA grew 55% year-on-year to 53.4 billion pesos, while net income declined to 32.2 billion, mainly due to the 21.9 billion investment revaluation gain from the Chromite transaction recognized last year. Excluding the effects of the aforesaid revaluation gains and the 2022 incremental cost recovery, net income would have still increased by 52%.

Turning now to our infrastructure business, SMC Infrastructure's operating toll roads in the first half of 2026 reflected the partial impact of higher fuel prices that started in March amid the ongoing Middle East conflict. As a result, traffic volume slightly dropped by 1% to 1.07 million.

Despite softer traffic, revenues increased by 3% to 20.5 billion pesos, while operating income remained steady at 11.1 billion. Meanwhile, EBITDA grew 8% to 17 billion pesos, while net income grew 29% to 8.8 billion pesos.

Moving on to our cement business, the cement business posted first half consolidated revenues of 18.2 billion, up 2% year-on-year, driven by higher sales volume. The volume growth more than offset a decline in average selling prices, which remained under pressure by intense market competition.

The increase in volume was supported by solid performance across all three cement businesses, with the group gaining market share as imported traded cement volumes remained low following the implementation of anti-dumping duties in February, even as overall market demand weakened. Despite higher revenues, operating income declined by 9% to 3.2 billion, while net income fell by 18% to 1.6 billion pesos.

This is primarily due to elevated raw material and power costs resulting from heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Now moving on to a snippet of our balance sheet, consolidated total assets as of June 30, 2026, for the consolidated SMC stood at 3.0 trillion pesos, while total liabilities amounted to 2.2 trillion.

Stockholders' equity ended at 794 billion pesos. Consolidated cash balance stood at 454 billion, while interest-bearing debt totaled to 1.8 trillion.

Now I would like to invite Miss Tatish to provide an update on our sustainability initiatives and key developments during the period.

Tatish Palabyab

Thank you, Chesca. Good afternoon, everyone.

I'd like to begin with a brief overview of our sustainability highlights before discussing some of our key initiatives and accomplishments in detail. We published our 2025 sustainability report in June, providing investors with a comprehensive view of how sustainability is embedded across the group.

Rather than highlighting a single initiative, the report demonstrates how sustainability supports long-term value creation across all forms of capital. Financially, we generated over 1.5 trillion pesos in economic value.

Operationally, we continue to provide critical infrastructure through our power generation assets and expressway network. Socially, our employee volunteers and community programs continue to expand our reach, while environmentally, our reforestation program, water conservation, biodiversity, and river rehabilitation programs continue to deliver measurable outcomes.

Equally important, our governance foundation remains strong, with 100% of directors and officers completing governance training and 282 internationally recognized certifications supporting disciplined operations across the group. Next slide, please.

One initiative that continues to distinguish San Miguel is our Better Rivers program. As of the end of June, we have dredged approximately 9.2 million cubic meters of accumulated silt and debris, restoring nearly 200 kilometers of waterways across Luzon, and more recently, expanding our efforts into Cebu through the Butuanon River.

Beyond its environmental benefits, the program helps improve river capacity, reduce flood risk, restore water flow, and strengthen climate resilience in the communities we serve. It reflects our belief that sustainability investments should generate tangible benefits for society while supporting the long-term resilience of the areas where we operate.

San Miguel continues to receive recognitions for its sustainability initiatives. In April, SMC was again recognized at the Cambridge IFA Global Good Governance Awards, receiving the 3G Excellence in Sustainable Development Award and the 3G Community Development and Philanthropy Award.

In June, Eagle Cement Corporation, an SMC subsidiary, was likewise honored at the Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards, earning accolades in the green leadership category for its waste heat recovery system and the social empowerment category for its Wealth on Waste program. While awards are not an objective in themselves, they provide independent validation that our environmental and community initiatives are producing results that are recognized internationally.

While much of our sustainability work focuses on large-scale infrastructure and industrial operations, embedding sustainability into everyday employee behavior remains equally important. The relaunch of the Tamang Tapon program reinforces a culture of resource efficiency and accountability throughout the organization, complementing our broader operational initiatives.

Following the completion of our climate risk assessment, net-zero roadmap, and people upliftment framework in 2025, our focus in 2026 has shifted toward implementation. On climate, we are translating facility-level assessments into resilience plans, integrating climate considerations into enterprise risk management, and incorporating ESG risk evaluation into major capital investment decisions.

On decarbonization, we continue advancing renewable energy projects, Petron's CMM plan, and other emissions reduction programs across the group, while working with our businesses to establish measurable intermediate targets. For our social goal, we are strengthening the measurement of outcomes so that we can better demonstrate progress toward our commitment to uplift 15 million people by 2030.

We also continue strengthening our sustainability reporting and governance processes in preparation for evolving IFRS sustainability disclosure standards, enhancing the quality, consistency, and decision-usefulness of information provided to investors. Overall, our sustainability agenda continues to mature, from establishing foundations toward integrating sustainability into risk management, capital allocation, and operational decision-making across the group.

That concludes our sustainability update. I hand the presentation back to Chesca.

Chesca Tenorio

Thank you, Miss Tatish. Let me now highlight key developments across our businesses during the period and share the group's outlook for the remainder of the year.

SMC successfully completed its 30 billion pesos of preferred shares follow-on offering with strong demand from institutional and retail investors, driving a 3.3 times oversubscription despite a volatile and challenging market environment. The successful issuance reflects continued market confidence in San Miguel's long-term growth plans and supports the group's ongoing capital requirements, including investments in infrastructure and other strategic projects that contribute to national development.

For SMFB, capacity expansion projects are currently ongoing. The spirits business will have a new production line in Cabuyao by November, and its mechanized bottle washing facility was commissioned in March.

For beer, its Lucanin malt terminal is expected to improve inventory management later this year. For the food group, additional capacities for butter, margarine, and salad aids were installed, while the new cold storage facility for Purefoods commenced operations already.

Scheduled for completion within the year are the second Cebu feed mill, a new cheese processing line, and additional grain silos in Davao. Construction is ongoing on two more feed mills, a pet food plant, nuggets capacity expansion, and two grains terminals.

For power, GP continues to advance its energy transition strategy through the development of its hydro and solar projects under the GEA program. Development and construction activities across the portfolio continue to advance in line with the planned project timelines.

Meanwhile, for the Masinloc power plant project, Unit 4 is currently undergoing testing and commissioning activities, while Unit 5 remains under construction. Our infrastructure business continues to make significant progress across its several key projects.

Construction is progressing across priority toll road projects, particularly SLEX TR4, which has reached approximately 50% completion. Significant progress continues in the widening and expansion of STAR, SLEX, NAIAx, and Skyway.

MRT7 continues to advance steadily, with overall completion rate at 84.42% for civil works, and site development activities are ongoing, as well as in the Manila International Airport, which has maintained its overall progress and continues to advance towards completion. For NAIA, actual passenger volume reached 26.9 million in the first half, reflecting 1% growth from the same period last year.

Enhancing the passenger journey remains a key priority of the airport, with initiatives such as Terminal 1 airside F&B concession area, Terminal 2 mega-toilet, Terminal 3 retail level premium food and beverage and shared business class lounge, as well as improvement of escalators, elevators, and moving walkways across all terminals. The airport continues to invest in capacity improvements, including construction of bus gates and ground transportation center, extension of immigration area, and switching of security and immigration screening area.

Furthermore, NAIA made several back-end investments to support long-term operational reliability, such as construction of new data center, implementation of queue management system, and SAP HANA plant maintenance module, and launch of the Flight Info Display System into official airport website for real-time flight updates. Overall, the first half underscored the resilience of SMC's business model.

The strength of our diversified portfolio, combined with our scale, market leadership, and disciplined execution, enabled us to deliver stable performance despite a more challenging operational environment marked by moderate economic growth, persistent inflationary pressures, and evolving market dynamics. As we look to the second half of 2026, we remain cautiously optimistic.

While economic and market conditions are expected to remain dynamic, SMC is well positioned to benefit from long-term growth drivers across its businesses, including anticipated increase in public infrastructure development and investment activities, rising energy demand, resilient consumer spending, and the continued recovery of mobility and broader economic activity. Supported by prudent capital allocation, sound risk management, and strong governance, we will remain focused on strengthening our businesses, executing our strategic priorities, and creating sustainable long-term value for our stakeholders.

This concludes our presentation, and thank you for your time and attention. We'll now open the floor and the chat box for questions.

Moderator

Thank you, Miss Chesca. We now open the floor for your questions, and we will be reading questions sent via the Q&A feature.

Chesca Tenorio

Go ahead, Jericho, we can ask questions now.

Moderator

For our first question: What is Power's CAPEX guidance for 2026 and 2027, and how much is allotted for BESS and Masinloc Units 4 and 5?

Chesca Tenorio

I'll take questions for Power. I'll take the opportunity to answer CAPEX guidance already for the full group.

Right now, I think we were back-ended on some of our payments or disbursements last 2025. We fell short of our guidance in 2025.

I think those will be pushed forward to 2026. Do please expect CAPEX for 2026 for the total group would be north of 200 billion.

Again, depending on schedules and CAPEX disbursements on the toll or on our infrastructure side, depending on completions. Having said that, for Power, zooming in Power, they would take up almost half of our CAPEX guidance already for the group.

That would be around 100 billion. I think BESS will only take up as much as single-digit CAPEX only for Power, given that most of the expenses already were early on spent prior to 2026.

Meanwhile, Masinloc 4 and 5 can be as much as, let me just double check, close to about 30 billion of that total 100 billion for Power.

Moderator

Thank you, Miss Chesca. Now, for the second question, we have: What is management's outlook for food, beers, and spirits segment for the rest of the year?

What is the company's view on the proposed increase on excise tax on distilled spirits and sweetened beverages? Are there any plans to increase prices for food and/or beer segment to preserve margins?

Monica Ang-Mercado

Thank you for that question. For the second half of the year, we usually anticipate an increase or an improvement in the market demand, right?

Especially with the OND or October, November, December, the -ber months, that's usually the time where people start spending more for celebrations and family gatherings and fiestas. However, I do have to highlight that there remains to be a challenge in the market.

We don't see a full recovery for last year given the market conditions after the Middle East crisis. Affordability remains to be a top priority for most of the consumers.

As for alcohol, our beers and spirits businesses, these are discretionary spending. Even for June, at the start of school season for many students, we saw a decline in the alcohol businesses, but of course, this was offset by our food segment.

Now, for the excise tax, there's a lot of talk on that proposed by some of our regulators, but we don't foresee there to be any impact or any effect this year or even till next year. It's a long way away before this gets finalized.

However, excise tax remains to be a huge contributor to costs for our alcohol beers and spirits businesses. We do think it is unfair for there to be any discussion for further excise tax increases because as a fab or fermented alcoholic beverage, we're already taxed way more than say the likes of Smirnoff Mule or Tanduay Ice, those kinds of category.

We do think it's unfair that this discussion is being debated once again. Next for the pricing, I do think that it is going to be very challenging and unwise for us to be increasing our selling prices for the alcohol or the beer and spirits segments.

We do understand that margins are very important, and as you have seen from our figures, we have tried our best to contain increases in fixed costs, expenses, and cost of goods sold. In terms of COGS, it's a mix versus last year.

Some materials have driven up, some have improved way way better than budgeted. We will try our best to maintain margins.

However, again, selling prices lifting that, that is not a decision we will be taking. It's also good for maintaining our market share.

Moderator

Thank you, Miss Monica. Now for our next question: Are there any updates on the planned merger of SMC and Metro Pacific Tollways?

Chesca Tenorio

I'll take that question. For the discussion so on between SMC, right, through San Miguel Holdings Corp., which is our holding company for infrastructure group, and Metro Pacific Tollways, relating to this contemplated merger of the respective tollway business, we believe an appropriate disclosure will maybe be soon, but it will be made upon the execution of the definitive agreements that contains the relevant terms and conditions of the joint venture, including the parties' respective proportionate shares between them.

I think we will just wait for the appropriate disclosure for the due time.

Moderator

Thank you, Miss Chesca. We have another question for SMFB: Can you provide some more details on volumes performance over the last two quarters, why we experience an accelerated volume decline?

Should we expect a slow down in price increases to help volumes? Could you also share the cases numbers for the quarter?

Thank you.

Tina Garcia

I believe the question is from a Ginebra investor. For volume performance, the company was actually affected by the challenges that the country faced in the first half of the year.

High inflation, slow economic growth, and weak consumer sentiment dampened the purchasing power for core consumers. Nonetheless, we responded proactively through relevant campaigns, expanded distribution reach, and improved supply chain efficiencies to help mitigate headwinds.

However, as the economic pressures persisted, the negative impact on demand became more pronounced, resulting in a 5% decline in our first semester sales volume from last year. First quarter volumes were 12.3 million cases, and the second quarter was 23.5 million cases.

I think it's also worth noting that our core brands held up better. The softness in the segments were actually the ones that are most exposed to younger and price-sensitive drinkers.

The February pricing offset it, revenue held at 32.3 billion pesos. On price increases, as Monica said earlier, we do not expect another price increase for the remainder of the year to help volumes.

Thank you.

Moderator

Thank you, Miss Tina. We have a question for Petron: How much inventory holding losses or gains did PCOR record in 2Q 2026, and how does this compare to 2Q 2025?

Additionally, I understand that the situation is very uncertain still, but would you have an outlook how the remainder of the year might play out for PCOR, particularly with regards to sales growth and margins?

Erich Pe Lim

Thanks for that question. For the first semester of the year, for the first six months, inventory gains amounts to around 3 billion pesos.

This is compared to last year, for the same period, where we had actually inventory losses of around roughly 2.9 billion pesos. Now in terms of outlook for the rest of the year, I'd say that we're we're cautiously optimistic.

There are things that are going to our favor if you look at the first semester figures. If I may point out some of them, in terms of volumes, I mentioned earlier that we actually continue to grow at a very healthy pace in terms of our retail sales volume.

No, continuously growing year-on-year for the past I think four or five years already by by double digits. We're able to continue and capitalize on that momentum growing by around 15% year-on-year in the first semester for retail sales in the Philippines.

We registered actually double-digit growth despite the high prices across most of our products except mogas. I think that that that double-digit growth across white products again is something that that is quite notable given the operating environment that we are in.

We expect volumes to to improve, especially if we see some stability in terms of prices, right? Hopefully the elevated prices would not continue, because of course there will come a point that price elasticity will manifest.

If if things continue to to stabilize towards the end of the year, which we are hopeful for, then I I believe that the volumes will continue to hold. Now in terms of outlook in terms of profitability for the rest of the year for the rest of the year, I feel a lot of it would depend on external factors, market factors.

Namely of course margins being pressured and compressed due to the landed costs, right? I've been explaining it to a lot of the analysts that I've been discussing with for the past five months that landed costs have significantly increased.

When we say landed costs, that includes freight freight costs, your crude premiums, and also your insurance, right? To illustrate, the margin the the costs that we have in terms of crude premium basically peaked at around $18, if I remember right, in April, May.

If you if you average it out for the past five, six months, the crude premium, when you buy our raw materials, is around roughly around $8 per barrel already. This is compared to pre-war, where your crude premium would just probably be around a dollar per barrel.

Freight has likewise significantly increased. It peaked to around close to $10 per barrel, I believe, in March, when the war erupted.

Right now, I believe in the in August, it's close to around $8 per barrel with the renewed uncertainties in the Middle East. All of these increase in in terms of costs is will will of course continue to, as I mentioned, pressure margins.

Now, if there's one thing that that that is a silver lining again is in terms of market, is the very healthy refining margins that that that is currently prevailing, right? If you look at the gross refining margins on a per barrel basis, it has increased year-on-year by around roughly on a spot basis around 200%.

That's something that we're trying to capitalize on by running our refinery higher. We're we're running our refinery close to capacity of approximately close to around 90% as we speak.

Of course making sure that whatever we produce, we sell to the most profitable sect- segments strategically. Put all these things together, we hope that it will more or less be a continuation of of the first half going to the second semester.

Moderator

Thank you, sir Erich. For the next question, it's for the group: Can you share core net income in 2Q 2026, and how this compares with 1Q 2026?

Chesca Tenorio

I think our 2026 results might be very interesting on this level, beside our forex exposure, because again, of some one-off gains. Let me describe that in detail.

On a reported net income basis, we are printing 37.7 billion pesos. That is down 44% from 67 billion pesos from last year first half.

Now, there are one-off items. Mainly one is the gain of fair valuation which we had last year, stripping that out.

Two, we also had a forex gain, again, that's non-core in nature, from last year, against a forex loss this year. Our forex gain last year is 8.1 billion, versus our forex loss this year of 16.5 billion pesos.

Stripping those one-off or I would say non-core items, we would be at 54.2 billion pesos this year versus last year's 37 billion pesos. That is up 48%.

That was what was noted in the presentation. Hope that clarifies.

Yes.

Moderator

Thank you, Miss Chesca. For our next question: How much cash is available at the parent company level?

Chesca Tenorio

I'll take that as well. Yes, as of first half or as of June 2026, net debt for SMC Parent is at 772.151 billion pesos.

That is net of the cash at the parent level of 89.82 billion pesos. Hope that is clear for the net debt of SMC at parent level and cash as well.

Moderator

Thank you, Miss Chesca. Next question is for Power: What is the expected revenue and EBITDA of the company's planned 4.2 gigawatts hydropower capacity and 2.2 gigawatts solar capacity?

Chesca Tenorio

EBITDA, we don't really provide guidance, but I would say at minimum we would be way above 50 billion pesos coming from 50, 60 billion pesos coming from EBITDA, again, on a mature full capacity of these GEA projects, GEA 3 and 4, solar and hydro. We should be hitting EBITDA of north of 50, 60 billion pesos on an annual basis.

Again, on a full capacity run rate.

Moderator

Thank you, Miss Chesca.

Chesca Tenorio

At minimum, yes.

Moderator

Now, next question: Could you describe SMC's interest for the Semirara block coal operating contract and provide updates regarding the bidding?

Chesca Tenorio

To be honest, there's not much update. We are interested to participate if that's what people are looking at.

We are interested, and when DOE comes up with the terms of reference, of course, but again, when this comes out, we will evaluate if we will continue with our bid participation. Right now, we will just show our interest to participate and see what the bid terms will come out to.

Moderator

Thank you, Miss Chesca. Next question is for GSMI: Can management elaborate factors driving the gross profit margin improvement in GSMI year-over-year?

Tina Garcia

For GSMI, input costs and efficiency, there were some improvements in both. Cost of sales actually fell 1% even on higher excise tax because lower raw materials costs, such as molasses, offset it.

Gross profit rose 5%. Behind that there were also better distillery yields and greater use of second-hand bottles alongside pricing or price increase.

Yeah.

Moderator

Thank you, Miss Tina. Now, next question: Is the $500 million RPS raised by SGLPC in Q1 issued to a third party or related party?

Chesca Tenorio

This is for Global Power. Yes, it is a third-party private placement.

Moderator

Thank you, Miss Chesca. We have another question for Petron: Could you please provide an update on the current crude oil supply situation, in particular, have any cargoes lifted from Yanbu Port been affected by the recent Houthi attacks in the Red Sea?

Additionally, what proportion of Petron's total crude oil imports is currently sourced from non-Middle East countries?

Erich Pe Lim

Right. Thanks for that question.

I guess coming from March, right, March and April, where there was a lot of uncertainty in terms of supply, we've relatively speaking in the past five to six months, supply lines have been established, re-established, despite of the uncertainty in the Middle East, right? Supply from the Middle East categorically speaking, actually continued to flow.

Of course, to a lesser extent, but it it continues to come out of of that region, of course, just at at certain elevated prices. Hence, on our part, we have of course diversified our sourcing of supply.

Aside from the Middle East, which we still continue to get from, we do get from more production from Asia, Asian producers. We do get also from North America, Latin America, and also West African crude.

That's that's particularly because of the capability of the refinery with the upgrade that we did years a few years back, where the refinery now could actually process the whole spectrum of crude, right, from light, heavy, sweet, to sour. That that basically gives us an advantage in terms of supply sourcing.

Now, in terms of percentage, I'd say a good chunk of our supply still comes from the Middle East, probably around roughly around 50 to 60%. The Middle East continues to be resilient, right?

Yes, there are threats currently in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait where where the Houthis have have some sort of hold, but I'd say relatively speaking, based on the latest reports that we've been getting from analysts, the shipping traffic relatively speaking is is close to normal, right? There are threats, but nevertheless, a lot of the ships to avoid that would go the other way, they go north.

There are other alternative routes, right? It's a little longer because they have to go through the Suez Canal, Suez Canal, and a lot of the Middle Eastern crude is particularly from the Saudis being actually loaded in Egypt, in in the SUMED carrier port.

A lot has been allocated there and other crude ports within the area, right? They've been resilient, they're they're still getting products out, also through the north, through Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, and and around the Cape of Good Hope.

Of course that would again be longer and entail certain costs, incremental costs. Strictly speaking, there is supply, it's just that it comes at a certain price.

Moderator

Thank you, sir Erich. Our next question: Based on the news, the government is looking to fast-track the Sangley Airport project in Cavite.

How will this affect SMC's airport operations?

Chesca Tenorio

I'll take that infrastructure question. While we're not really privy to the feasibility of Sangley, it would be technically and financially challenging given NAIA and the New Manila International Airport are both already in their advanced stages.

Sangley may affect NAIA since it shares the same airspace with NAIA. Under the CA of NAIA, NAIA's operations should be prioritized and surrounding airports cannot hamper or limit the capacity of NAIA.

Moderator

All right, everyone, that concludes our Q&A. Thank you to everyone for your questions and to our panelists for providing detailed and informative answers to our queries.

For those who have further questions, you may address it to us via email at [email protected]. Thank you, and good day.

Chesca Tenorio

Thank you.

Erich Pe Lim

Thank you po.

Chesca Tenorio

Thank you, all.

Tina Garcia

Thank you.