2017 a ‘very good year’ for Megaworld

Megaworld Corporation, the Philippines’ biggest developer of integrated urban townships, is expected to report robust growth in earnings for 2017.

In an interview, Megaworld Senior Vice President Kevin Tan said that, while the firm will not be announcing its financial performance until March, he noted that “2017 was a very good year, that’s all I can say.”

Asked if growth last year was in double digits, Tan said “Certainly. To say the least, a very good year.” Indications are that the strong performance was seen across all of the firm’s business units, including residential sales, office and retail space leasing and hotels.

For the first nine months of 2017, Megaworld said it posted a 12 percent growth in net income to R10.34 billion from R9.27 billion during the same period of the previous year.

The firm said attributable net income rose 11 percent to R9.98 billion in the first nine months of 2017 from R8.98 billion during the same period last year.

Revenues from investment properties soared 19 percent year-on-year during the first three quarters of the year, pulling up the company’s 9-month earnings.

Megaworld’s robust rental income also helped sustain earnings growth on the back of its strong office and commercial leasing businesses.

The first three quarters saw its rental income surging to R8.82 billion from R7.41 billion during the same period last year.

Consolidated revenues, on the other hand, stood at R37.10 billion during the first nine months, growing around 5 percent from the previous year’s R35.26 billion.

Residential revenues remained steady while hotel revenues were up 8 percent yearon-year.

“There is a brighter side for our residential business as we have started the bulk of our unit turnovers in Makati and Fort Bonifacio this year,” said Megaworld Senior Vice President and Treasurer Francis Canuto.

He noted that, “our rental business remains to be a key contributor to our consistent growth, and we see this to become stronger in the coming years as we complete more office and commercial buildings as well as malls in our townships across the country.”