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By Likha C. Cuevas-Miel, Reporter
MEGAWORLD Corp. announced Friday
that its profit surged by more than half on scorching real-estate
sales and higher rental income in the first half of the year.
In a statement, the property
developer said its net income for the first six months jumped by 67
percent to P1.45 billion from last year, as revenues grew by 81
percent to P6.01 billion.
The growth was driven by
real-estate sales, which accounted for 67 percent of total sales and
doubled to P4.04 billion in the first half. Rental income from
business-process outsourcing (BPO) offices and retail space, which
made up 7.6 percent of total revenues, also grew by 41 percent to
P455.7 million over last year.
At end-June, Megaworld registered
P21.4 billion in cash against a debt level of about P7.3 billion
resulting in a net cash position of P14.1 billion.
For this year, the company aims
to generate about P2.9 billion in earnings, 42 percent higher than
last year’s profit. It also targets P10 billion in contracted
sales this year that would grow to P15 billion in the following
years.
“As early as two years ago, we
already saw this uptrend happening in the market,” Kingson Sian,
Megaworld executive director, said.
The company remains bullish that
the current cycle that real-estate industry is experiencing is
“sustainable” than the previous cycles.
“As long as the government
stays on track with the fiscal reform, interest rates would still
remain low,” he said during the company’s stockholders meeting.
While the firm already owns eight
year’s worth of prime land, it is still “on the lookout” for
properties through joint venture deals with landowners in strategic
areas in the metropolis.
Megaworld is working on six
“mega-communities,” including McKinley Hill in Fort Bonifacio,
Manhattan Garden City Araneta Center, Quezon City and Newport City
at Villamor Airbase in Pasay City.
The firm also agreed to a joint
venture with Fil-Estate Land, Inc. to develop the 730-hecatare
residential resort community called Twin Lakes in Taal Ridge,
Laurel, Batangas.
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