MPIC core income up 13% to P9.3 B
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), the toll roads and infrastructure conglomerate chaired by Manuel Pangilinan, reported a 13 percent increase in consolidated core net income to P9.3 billion in the first nine months of the year.
Given its strong performance, MPIC has upgraded its full year core net income guidance to P11.7 billion from the earlier announced P11.5 billion.
“We had a reasonable good quarter,” MPIC chief financial officer David Nicol said in a briefing yesterday.
MPIC president and CEO Jose Ma. Lim said the conglomerate recorded strong growth in all operations.
“Our continuing earnings growth reflects significant volume increases for all our businesses together with our intense focus on operational efficiencies which have been achieved as a result of years of elevated capital expenditures,” Lim said.
The higher core earnings were primarily driven by robust traffic growth on all the roads held by Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., an expanded power portfolio through increased investment in Beacon Electric Asset Holdings Inc. and Global Business Power Corp., and continuing growth in the hospital group.
In terms of contribution to the company’s net operating income, the power distribution and generation businesses accounted for the biggest share at P5.7 billion or 49 percent followed by water (P2.7 billion) and toll roads (P2.6 billion) which accounted for a 23 percent share each.
In May, MPIC deepened its participation in the Philippine power sector with the increase in its effective ownership in Meralco through the acquisition of a 25 percent of Beacon Electric and Beacon Electric’s acquisition of Global Power Corp.
“The increase in MPIC’s effective ownership in Meralco, lower debt at Beacon Electric and the contribution from Global Power combined to increase the power business contribution to MPIC for the period by 46 percent to P5.7 billion,” MPIC said.
Meanwhile, the hospital group contributed P443 million or four percent of the total while the rail and systems business contributed P135 million or one percent of the total.