Megaworld posts net profit in first half, up 12%

Megaworld Corporation, the Philippines’ biggest developer of integrated urban townships, achieved a 12 percent growth in net income to 37.51 billion during the first half of 2018 from the 36.69 billion in the same period the previous year.

Attributable net income rose 13 percent to 37.25 billion in the first half of this year from 36.44 billion during the first six months of 2017.

Megaworld’s earnings for the first two quarters of the year was buoyed by strong results from all its core businesses, with the hotel business having posted record growth during the year.

The firm said its hotel businesses grew 10 percent from 3648 million during the first half of 2017 to a record 3715 million in the same period this year.

The company recently opened Savoy Hotel Manila in Newport City, adding 684 hotel rooms in its total inventory of 1,744 rooms as of end-2017.

Before the end of the year, the company is set to open two more hotels, the 126-room Twin Lakes Hotel in Tagaytay and the 94-room Lucky Chinatown Hotel in Binondo, Manila, bringing its total hotel inventory to 2,648 rooms by year-end.

“We are ready to supply more rooms to support the government’s goal of 10 million tourist arrivals by 2020. We are in key tourism areas like Cebu, Boracay and Tagaytay,” said Megaworld Senior Vice President and Treasurer Francis Canuto.

Megaworld’s rental business, which include office, malls and commercial space leasing, also posted another record growth during the first half of the year with rental income rising 17 percent to 36.79 billion from 35.83 billion during the same period of 2017.

For its office business, Megaworld’s office space inventory stood at 1,013,000 square meters with more office towers remain in the pipeline.

The company’s residential business, on the other hand, saw a 9 percent growth year-onyear during the period, reaching 318.22 billion this year compared to last year’s 316.77 billion.