JG Summit Holdings Inc., the flagship holding firm of taipan John Gokongwei, said its net income jumped 160 percent in the first quarter of the year to P1.75 billion from the previous level’s P670 million.

Last year, JG Summit’s profit swelled to P3.88 billion inclusive of a non-recurring P3.21-billion gain from the sale of its shares in food unit Universal Robina Corp. (URC).

JG Summit said the significant improvement in recurring net profit was due to the record growth of airline unit Cebu Pacific’s net earnings and higher income contributions from URC and property development arm Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC).

Cebu Pacific posted a net income of P560 million, a significant turnaround from the P92.9-million loss incurred in the same period a year earlier.

JG Summit said consolidated revenues grew 13 percent to P20.01 billion while revenues from continuing operations went up 4.3 percent as strong sales of its food and property units were offset by the weak performance of its telecommunications and petrochemicals businesses.

Interest income declined 20.5 percent to P1.25 billion from P1.57 billion due to the lower average investment portfolio, coupled with lower translated level of dollar-denominated investments due to the continuing peso appreciation.

Cost of sales and services increased to P10.66 billion, reflecting better cost management in the foods and airline businesses and a slowdown in the production level of the company’s petrochemical business. This resulted in an improved gross margin for the first quarter from 23.5 percent to 31.5 percent.

RLC posted a net income of P1.22 billion in the first half of its fiscal year, up 47 percent from the previous level due to higher revenues across all divisions.

Revenues rose 19 percent to P3.3 billion with the commercial centers division accounting for 41 percent of total.

“The increase in revenues was a result of rent escalation due to the increasing use of mall space by BPO and call center operations, and strong rental income particularly Robinsons Place Cainta, Robinsons Place Pioneer/Edsa, Robinsons Metro Bacolod and Robinsons Place Lipa,” RLC said in a statement..

Revenues from residential condominiums, the company’s second largest revenue contributor, reached P1.186 billion.

Its hotel division’s revenue rose 26 percent to P556 million and its housing and land development unit’s revenue rose 53 percent to P279 million.

URC, meanwhile, registered net sales of P13.45 billion in the first half of its fiscal year ending September on strong sales from domestic operations.

However, net sales of its international operations declined 7.4 percent to P3.7 billion due to lower revenues from China, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. A stronger peso also weighed on net sales.

Net sales in URC’s agro-industrial segment rose 12.1 percent to P2.6 billion in the first half, while net sales in its commodity foods segment were down 19.4 percent at P1.64 billion.

Digital Telecommunications Phils. Inc., on the other hand, incurred a net loss of P398.5 million as against a net income of P398.5 million in the same period a year earlier.

Revenues likewise declined 22.8 percent to P2.41 billion from P3.12 billion, largely due to lower net foreign exchange gain.

Network-related expenses amounted to P102.1 million, up 19 percent as a result of aggressive roll-out activities undertaken in the wireless business.