Construction boom lifts Megawide profit

Megawide Construction Corp. boosted its six-month net profit by 49 percent year-on-year to P1.18 billion on record-high earnings from the construction business.

“The construction segment delivered an all-time high revenue for a six-month period as greater number of projects are in the second semester stage or ‘super-structure stage’ compared to the same period last year while the airport operations segment continues to impress due to double digit growth in passenger traffic,” Megawide chief financial officer Oliver Tan said.

Consolidated revenues surged by 77 percent year-on-year to P10.07 billion in the first six months, 91 percent of which was contributed by the construction business.

Construction revenues jumped 84 percent year-on-year to P9.17 billion as more projects were completed, including phase two of the Meridian Park of Double Dragon, 10 West, St. Moritz, Megaworld’s Southeast Asian Campus, Megaworld’s Le Grand business process outsourcing (BPO) cluster phase 1 and 2 and the Landers

Warehouse Balintawak & Otis of Southeast Asia Retail, Inc.

“New contracts booked for January to June 2016 amounted to P12.4 billion. In all, total construction order book as of June 30, 2016 stands at P42.29 billion. This will provide construction revenue visibility for the next two years,” Tan said.

Megawide also unlocked higher revenues from its diversification into the airport sector. Revenues from the operations of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) contributed P896 million. The company took over operations of MCIA in November 2014 after winning a bidding under the public private partnership (PPP) framework.

Megawide airport subsidiary GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. grew its revenues by 24 percent year-on-year as a result of the 10-percent increase in passenger traffic during the period in review. Domestic and international flights increased by 7 percent and 18 percent, respectively, from last year.

Construction of MCIA’s terminal 2 is ongoing and is expected to be operational by the end of June 2018.

“Our outlook remains positive given the Duterte administration’s direction to boost infrastructure spending and we look forward to the implementation of bids for PPP projects such as the regional prison facility and the regional airports,” Tan said.