Waste management unit of listed MIC sees strong growth for 2013 earnings
The solid waste management firm of publicly-listed Minerales Industrias Corp. (MIC), is expected to double its net income this year as it continues to expand its core business, while it gains ground converting trash to energy.
Basic Environmental Systems and Technologies (BEST)—MIC’s solid waste management arm—expects to report net profits at least 100 percent higher than last year’s level of P51 million.
Its revenues are expected to increase by at least 80 percent over the P212 million it recorded in 2012.
In a statement, BEST chair and CEO Isabelita Paredes Mercado said the company’s growth was being driven by new contracts, increased efficiency and integration of its existing solid waste management projects, and its expansion into energy recovery.
“This is, by far, our biggest year in terms of growth with new contracts and improvements in our operations,” she said. “But we have barely scratched the surface of the potential of the solid waste management industry.”
Mercado was responsible for transforming the IPM group from a construction and real estate development firm in the mid-1980s to company involved in information technology, solid waste management and energy in the last decade.
“Waste is now seen as a resource not only for recycling but also for generating alternative fuel and renewable energy,” she said.
BEST currently runs two engineered sanitary landfills in Payatas, Quezon City and Morong, Rizal, which process the waste output of Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
BEST is also an equity partner of Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. that owns and operates an engineered sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac serving the needs of Pampanga, Tarlac and its nearby provinces.
Last year, in partnership with companies Lafarge and Pennies and Pounds, a mechanized materials recovery and composting plant was established in Payatas which collects and sorts trash for conversion into alternative fuel for cement and other industrial factories.
