JG Summit Holdings Inc., the flagship holding firm of taipan John Gokongwei, has set aside up to P25 billion for its capital expenditures this year, most of which will go to the continued expansion and improvement of its mobile phone business and construction of high-rise office and residential buildings.

At the sidelines of the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting yesterday, JG Summit president and chief operating officer Lance Gokongwei said the programmed capital budget for the year is lower than the previous year’s P28 billion.

“The main capex is going to Digitel (Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc.) for continuous expansion of some programs and Robinsons Land, where we are taking aggressive steps to expand our office capabilities as well as complete residential projects,” Gokongwei said.

Digitel, the country’s third biggest phone firm, operates the Sun Cellular mobile phone service.

Gokongwei said JG Summit is also considering refinancing its $300-million debt maturing in June 2008.

“We’re still assessing how much we are refinancing and whether its peso or dollar (denominated). It’s about a year away so we’re reviewing various options of repaying or refinancing that instrument,” Gokongwei said.

Gokongwei said a decision will have to be made before June 2008. “We still have to weigh the availability of the funds before then,” he said.

Following the successful follow-on offerings of food unit Universal Robina Corp. and property arm Robinsons Land last year, Gokongwei said JG Summit may at “some point in the future” consider increasing its free float in the market but did not elaborate.

Gokongwei said JG Summit is also expected to perform better this year, mainly driven by the booming property, airline and telecommunications sectors in the country.

“We think our recurring basis will be substantially better this year than last year because the food, property and airline businesses are doing quite well. The Singapore subsidiary is benefitting likewise in the improvement of its office space rental. Overall, coupled with stronger peso and the general low interest rate environment, we also expect a considerable improvement in our second quarter recurring net income,” Gokongwei said.

In the first quarter this year, JG Summit reported a net income of P1.75 billion, down 55 percent from P3.88 billion in the same period last year which then included a one-time gain of P3.21 billion from the sale of its shares in URC. Excluding the extraordinary items, JG Summit’s net profit grew 161.2 percent from P670 million the previous year.