Megaworld income up 11% as of end-Sept. as rental revenues rise
November 10, 2016
MEGAWORLD Corp. posted another double-digit growth in earnings for the nine months to September, as it received another boost from an office and commercial retail portfolio that continues to expand.
The listed developer of integrated urban townships grew its net income 11% to P9.27 billion from the P8.35 billion recorded for the comparable period in 2015, it said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Megaworld generated P35.26 billion in revenues during the nine-month period, a 5% increase from the P33.53 billion posted a year earlier.
“Our fundamentals remain strong and we are happy to see that our anticipated aggressive growth in our rental businesses continues,” Megaworld Senior Vice-President, Treasurer, Compliance Officer and Corporate Information Officer Francisco C. Canuto said in the statement.
Rental income from the company’s office and commercial retail properties soared 15% year on year to P7.41 billion from P6.44 billion.
The year-to-date performance of the leasing business benefited from the opening of new malls and commercial centers in Uptown Bonifacio, McKinley Hill, Forbes Town Center, Iloilo Business Park, The Mactan Newtown and Twin Lakes.
Office towers in McKinley West, Uptown Bonifacio, The Mactan Newtown and Iloilo Business Park also became online by end-September, driving the rental income of Megaworld further.
“What we are now witnessing is the transition of Megaworld from being just a builder into becoming a landlord. This means that the company will be insulated from any cyclicality from the residential business while having steady or even higher growth moving forward,” Mr. Canuto noted.
Megaworld is expanding its hotel portfolio as well with the introduction of another local brand, the Savoy Hotel, in addition to Belmont Hotel and Richmonde Hotel.
The company planned to open the first Savoy Hotel within the 150-hectare Boracay Newcoast before yearend. It will open two more within the 25-hectare Newport City and the 20-hectare The Mactan Newtown within the next two years.
Megaworld alongside intends to open another Belmont Hotel in Boracay Newcoast by 2018 and another in The Mactan Newtown in the following year. It opened the first Belmont Hotel within the Newport City.
The planned developments will add to three existing hotels offering a total of 449 rooms under the Richmonde brand, namely: Richmonde Hotel Ortigas, Eastwood Richmonde Hotel and Richmonde Hotel Iloilo.
Megaworld will have an inventory of around 3,800 hotel rooms under the homegrown brands by 2020.
Shares in Megaworld closed 17 centavos or 4.10% lower at P3.98 apiece on the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday, as investors across the region reacted to the results of the presidential race in the United States. — Keith Richard D. Mariano (BusinessWorld)
