DMCI net profit hits P16B

MANILA, Philippines—The Consunji family’s DMCI Holdings Inc. said profit in the nine months through September jumped 107 percent to P16.4 billion, mainly as the company sold a significant stake in its water business, Maynilad Water Services Inc., to Japan’s Marubeni Corp.

The company said in its financial report that after removing the P8.35-billion windfall, core earnings would have amounted to P8.04 billion, up 2 percent compared to the profit recorded in the same period last year.

As of September this year, contributions were led by its power business through subsidiary Semirara Mining Corp. The power business accounted for P2.65 billion, up 181 percent. The coal mining business is also under Semirara but coal mining income slumped by 67 percent to P589 million.

Construction and real estate also provided growth while water declined due to the smaller contribution, DMCI noted.

Because it sold down its Maynilad stake, DMCI now owns 25.24 percent of Maynilad while Marubeni got 20 percent. The rest of the water utility is owned by Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

Operating efficiencies continue to improve as Maynilad reported higher income from operations of P7.5 billion for the first nine months of 2013, up 10.8 percent, DMCI said. Billed volume was up 3.4 percent, despite an effective 4.7 percent reduction in water supply.

The construction business, through D.M. Consunji Inc., posted a net income contribution of P1.15 billion, up 19.5 percent as it recognized revenues from ongoing projects.

These include the Entertainment City Phase 1A, the power plants in Batangas and the Tarlac Pangasinan La Union Expressway. Section 1B  also helped contribute to the revenues and net income of DMCI, the company said.

The company had an order book of P24 billion at the end of September.

RELATED STORY:

Row between MWSS, Maynilad worries Marubeni