Megaworld’s 9-month profit soars by 17% to P13.7B

Megaworld, the country’s largest developer of integrated urban townships and the biggest landlord of office spaces, registered a net income of P13.7 billion during the first nine months of the year, up 17% compared to P11.7 billion during the same period last year.

Excluding non-recurring gain of P189-million, net income grew by 16% to a new record high of P13.5 billion. Net income attributable to parent company stood at P12.8 billion over the same period, growing 14% from P11.3 billion the year before.

Consolidated revenues during the nine-month period of 2019 rose at a robust pace of 17% to P48.1 billion from P41.3 billion, attributed to the strong performance of its core businesses.

The company’s real estate sales grew 11% for the period this year, ending at P30.7 billion from P27.6 billion during the same period last year.

As of end-September, Megaworld launched a total of P58.7 billion in new residential inventory while reservation sales reached P114 billion.

“Megaworld’s consistent growth across all business segments is a clear indicator of where the company is going, and we are very optimistic to finish the year strong. We have already introduced quite a number of real estate projects this year, which reflects the kind of demand that we have been seeing since last year. Megaworld will always be market driven, and as long as we see this type of demand on the ground, then we will continue to launch projects aggressively,” says Kevin L. Tan, chief strategy officer, Megaworld.

The company’s robust rental income greatly helped sustain earnings growth on the back of strong leasing from Megaworld Premier Offices and Megaworld Lifestyle Malls.

The first three quarters saw its rental income surging to P12.4 billion from P10.5 billion during the same period last year, exhibiting a 19% growth year-on-year.

Megaworld is set to further solidify its position as the leader in office developments in terms of total office space inventory by completing another 192,000 square meters of office spaces this year.

By the end of 2020, the company will breach the two-million square meter mark in its office space portfolio with the completion of new state-of-the-art office towers in Uptown Bonifacio, McKinley West, Iloilo Business Park, and ArcoVia City, cementing its position as the country’s largest office developer and landlord.

The company is also set to build four new full-scale malls: The Capital Mall in Capital Town, Pampanga; Mactan Newtown Beach Walk in The Mactan Newtown, Cebu; Upper East Mall in The Upper East in Bacolod City; and Highland Mall in Highland City in Cainta, Rizal.

All these new commercial properties are expected to be completed within the next three years.

“Our rental business remains to be a key driver to our consistent growth, and we see this to become stronger in the coming years as we roll out more office and retail spaces in our townships across the country,” explains Tan.

Meanwhile, the company’s hotel business became the fastest-growing segment during the first nine months of 2019 as hotel revenues soared 82% to P1.9 billion compared to last year’s P1 billion due to the increase in its hotel room capacity through the home-grown brands of Megaworld Hotels.

“In the long term, we see our hotel operations to be a major contributor to our growth as we continue to accelerate our hotel developments. With over 3,500 hotel room keys, Megaworld is not just making its presence felt, but more notably, complementing the government’s thrust to attract 12 million international tourists by 2022,” adds Tan.

To date, Megaworld already has 25 master-planned townships and integrated lifestyle communities across the country, namely: Eastwood City in Libis, Quezon City, (18.5 hectares); Newport City in Pasay City (25 hectares); McKinley Hill (50 hectares), McKinley West (34.5 hectares), Uptown Bonifacio (15.4 hectares) and Forbes Town (5 hectares), all in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City; The Mactan Newtown in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu (30 hectares); Iloilo Business Park in Mandurriao, Iloilo City (72 hectares); Sta. Barbara Heights in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo (173 hectares); Boracay Newcoast in Boracay Island (150 hectares); Twin Lakes in Laurel, Batangas near Tagaytay (1,200 hectares); ArcoVia City in Pasig City (12.3 hectares); Southwoods City in the boundaries of Cavite and Laguna (561 hectares); Davao Park District in Lanang, Davao City (11 hectares); Alabang West in Las Piñas City (62 hectares); Eastland Heights in Antipolo, Rizal (640 hectares); Suntrust Ecotown in Tanza, Cavite (350 hectares); Maple Grove in General Trias, Cavite (140 hectares); The Hamptons Caliraya in Lumban-Cavinti, Laguna (300 hectares); The Upper East (34 hectares) in Bacolod City,  Northill Gateway (50 hectares) in Bacolod-Talisay, Negros Occidental; Capital Town Pampanga beside the Pampanga Provincial Capitol in the City of San Fernando (35.6-hectares); Westside City in the Entertainment City in Parañaque City (31 hectares); Highland City in Cainta, Rizal (24 hectares); and Arden Botanical Estate located at the boundary of Trece Martires City and Municipality of Tanza in Cavite (251 hectares).