JG Summit Holdings Inc.'s core income nearly tripled to P12.6 billion in the first quarter of 2024 from P4.4 billion the year before, a result it said was driven by the robust growth of the food, real estate and air transport businesses.

The first-quarter result was also boosted by a P7.9-billion gain from the January 1 merger of Robinsons Bank Corp. with the Ayala Group's Bank of the Philippine Islands, the conglomerate said in a filing on Wednesday.

Excluding gains from the transaction, strong contributions from listed units would have still resulted in a 16-percent jump in the group's total core earnings, JG Summit said.

Accounting for lower foreign exchange (FX) gains and higher mark-to-market losses during the quarter, the attributable net income of P11 billion was said to be already more than half of JG Summit's full-year 2023 results.

"We kicked off 2024 with sustained improvements across our businesses, seeing robust sales volumes in our petrochemical and food businesses, as well as strong demand for air travel, leisure, and hospitality services," JG Summit President and CEO Lance Gokongwei said.

"We have also begun seeing green shoots in our petrochemicals arm as value realization has begun for its commercial and operational initiatives," he added.

JG Summit plans to expand the airline's capacity, drive volume-based growth in the food and beverage unit, sustain the upward trend in the property business, and streamline the transformation program of the petrochemicals arm.

"We will also continue to support our ecosystem plays, which are on the path to attaining scale via customer acquisition and new product launches," Gokongwei said.

From January to March 2024, JG Summit's consolidated revenues surged 18 percent year-on-year to P96.7 billion amid the continued topline improvements across all its businesses.

Cebu Air Inc., operating as Cebu Pacific, saw core earnings soar 54 percent year-on-year to P1.8 billion as revenues climbed to P25.3 billion from P20.9 billion a year earlier.

The uptrend was due to sustained travel demand and a steep upswing in Cebu Pacific's international short-haul flights, with passengers in the first quarter of the year hitting 5.5 million.

In the food and beverage business, Universal Robina Corp. reported earning P4.4 billion in the first three months of 2024, up 21 percent year-on-year, while sales totaled P42.6 billion.

Real estate subsidiary Robinsons Land Corp.'s (RLC) revenues expanded 18 percent to P10.5 billion, which boosted core and net earnings to P3.3 billion, climbing 22 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

Petrochemicals arm JG Summit Olefins Corp. posted higher sales volume, with revenues jumping 62 percent year-on-year to P14.1 billion.

The conglomerate saw a 19-percent growth in equity share from Manila Electric Co., which partly offset a 22-percent drop in dividend income from PLDT Inc. as no special dividends were declared during the quarter.

JG Summit shares closed 3.8 percent higher to P32.80 apiece on Wednesday.