MPIC income jumps 28% amid regulatory snags

Infrastructure holding company Metro Pacific Investments Corp. said core earnings in the nine months through September jumped 28 percent even as it criticized government regulators for their flip-flopping stance on its water and toll road businesses.

Metro Pacific, led by businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan, said core net income during the period hit P8.2 billion from P6.5 billion in the same period last year. Pangilinan said the company was keeping its full-year core profit target of P10 billion.

Metro Pacific president Jose Ma. K. Lim said in the filing that earnings—partly needed to finance new projects—could have been higher were it not for government regulators failing to provide a “level playing field” for the company.

“We are struggling uphill in toll roads and water against regulators who won’t follow the rules they agreed to themselves. It is no wonder that investment in our great country is lagging behind its needs,” Lim said in the statement.

Pangilinan, in the same statement, cited increasing regulatory risks for Metro Pacific, which is also involved in power generation and hospital operations.

“Unfortunately, increasing regulatory risks—of which tariff adjustments are the principal item—may eventually degrade the level of services. This is a prospect we wish to avoid,” Pangilinan said.

Metro Pacific, meanwhile, said its higher earnings was because of strong traffic growth at its toll roads such as the North Luzon Expressway, the growth at Maynilad Water Services Inc. due to higher billed volume as well as its increased effective shareholding in Manila Electric Co.  It also cited the continuous growth in the Hospital Group, which includes Makati Medical Center and The Asian Hospital and Medical Center.

In terms of contribution to net operating income: Meralco accounted for P3.9 billion or 39 percent of the aggregate contribution; Maynilad contributed P3.6 billion or 36 percent; the toll roads businesses delivered P2.1 billion or 22 percent; and the Hospital Group contributed P319 million or 3 percent of the total.

Metro Pacific, along with Ayala Corp., also won the bid last year to expand and operate the Light Rail Transit Line 1 project in Metro Manila.