Megaworld profit up to P16.44B for first six months of the year

Screengrab from www.megaworldcorp.com

MANILA, Philippines—Property developer Megaworld Corp. jacked up its profit during the first half of 2014 by 289 percent year-on-year to P16.44 billion, boosted by extraordinary gain from the acquisition of shares in the group’s leisure estate arm and the sale of shares in the integrated gaming affiliate.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday, Megaworld said its six-month net profit included P11.62 billion in non-recurring gains.

Megaworld completed last June its acquisition from parent Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI) of a 49.2 percent stake in Global-Estate Resorts Inc. (GERI) that brought its total interest in this leisure estate developer to 80.4 percent.  The deal also expanded its landbank to around 4,000 hectares.

Simultaneously, Megaworld sold 1.125 billion shares of Travellers International, allowing Megaworld, which used to own the portion of the land in Newport City where Travellers put up integrated gaming complex Resorts World Manila, to unlock values from its shares in Travellers and effectively reinvest the proceeds in GERI.

Apart from extraordinary gains, earnings were also perked up by strong residential sales in various township projects, particularly in Newport City, Uptown Bonifacio, McKinley Hill and Eastwood City alongside higher leasing income from its office and retail portfolio.

“I am confident that Megaworld can sustain its core growth momentum as we continuously expand all business segments in our townships across the country,” Megaworld chair Andrew Tan said.

Rental income from its office development and lifestyle malls went up by 22 percent year-on-year to P3.44 billion.

Total revenues together with subsidiaries GERI, Empire East Land Holdings and Suntrust Properties amounted to P31.96 billion in the first semester, up by 85 percent year-on-year.

As an indicator of future revenue growth, Megaworld posted P47 billion in reservation sales in the first half, 9 percent higher than the level in the same period last year.