Chairmen’s Message

Dear Fellow Stakeholders,

Warmest greetings on behalf of the Boards of AEV and AboitizPower!

Each season brings changes of all kinds, and over time, most species die as new ones come into being. Nature’s ecosystem has no room at all for the least adaptive. It is not survival of the fittest, but survival for as long as possible for the most adaptive. Evolution is the product of adaptation to change, which continued to be the central idea for your company in 2023. Rightly so, our Annual Integrated Report puts the spotlight on the foundation of the Aboitiz Great Transformation: our team members, our techglomerate builders.

The term “techglomerate” is how we describe what we aspire Aboitiz to be, with its competitive edge in all businesses through the use of technology and digitalization. To get there means navigating the wild, complex, and complicated world in which we operate and, fundamentally, for our A-People to strengthen their resilience and capacity to learn from failure. Their intelligence gives them a headstart but confidence, open minds, and sturdy constitutions enhance value, allowing them to get it and get it done quickly.

Meanwhile, competition is coming from more winds and will come from yet more fields, which means education, learning, attention & engagement by all 24 x 60 x 60 = 996 (ELA&E: 24x60x60 996) is a top priority. We cannot emphasize enough how our team needs to pursue higher and higher levels of education and learning, or we will not be able to innovate and disrupt nor adapt on time. The idea is for us to learn faster than the rest, and to evolve our beliefs—not to confirm or deny them.

In a world of unintended consequences that pop up like malware or goodware, we have to be switched on all of the time because chance favors the prepared. This is our commitment to you, our shareholders—strategy is something only we can do and better than anyone else. That is the path we are searching for daily and course correcting all the time.

We note that 2023 global recovery from Covid and the Russia-Ukraine War has been slow but steady while the Philippine economic growth was lower than the government’s target. Despite these challenges, your company achieved positive results with a strong balance sheet that will enable us to realize our plans for creating long-term value. We invite you to read more about these in the pages dedicated to our respective business units.

Our post-Covid world reminds us, especially those of us in leadership, that it is all about people. It has always been and will always be about people. Some will argue that robots and AI will replace people—and to a certain degree they may—but we at Aboitiz believe that technology will be yet another enhancement for better lives. We have great confidence in the talent and disposition of our A-People, the Philippines’ first techglomerate builders, guided by agility, innovation, and resilience.

Mabuhay!

Enrique M. Aboitiz

Chairman of the Board

Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc.

Sabin M. Aboitiz

Chairman of the Board

Aboitiz Power Corporation