"As a company, we should let the market dictate the price be it consumer product, housing or the stock exchange. This correction is good so we can avoid a bigger problem," Jose Sio, SM Investments Corp chief financial officer, said during a forum jointly organized by ING and the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP).
"What's wrong with our company? Nothing. What's wrong with our finances? Nothing. So why worry?" Sio said.
Likewise, Ayala Corp is not contemplating on any share buyback, its managing director Eric Francia said, adding that it was not company policy to "influence the share price."
"We will focus on investments versus buy-back, so no immediate plan to buy back our shares," Francia said.
He said the conglomerate implemented a share repurchase program four years ago because there were limited investment opportunities back then.
"The value was also really low at least from where we sit. We had excess capital, so given those three conditions we did some buy-back," Francia said.
In the same forum, Ysmael Baysa, Jollibee Foods Corp (JFC) chief financial officer, said the market's downtrend is still "healthy" and not "catastrophic."
"We are not looking at buying back shares and this is a good time for investors to also get into the market and buy Jollibee shares," Baysa said, noting that JFC was the second best-performing stock in the Philippines as of yesterday.
"I know there are a lot of influence in our shares and I think companies are waiting for opportunities to get in to buy JFC shares of stock so we look forward to that. I think this is a good time to make investments," Baysa said.
Jollibee today shed 3.14 to P154 each, while SM dropped 7.45 percent to P634 per share. AC fell 3.47 percent to P500 apiece.
The benchmark index on Wednesday wiped out its year-to-date gains to close at its weakest level for the year. The PSE index plunged 178.93 points or 3.02 percent to finish at 5,738.06 amid a global selloff triggered by mounting political tensions in Syria.
source: interaksyon.com
