DMCI recovers from 2020 slump; profit soared in Q1

Consunji-led engineering conglomerate DMCI Holdings Inc. (DMCI)’s first quarter net profit soared by 590 percent year-on-year to P4.3 billion as its property and integrated coal mining and power generation businesses strongly rebounded from last year’s slump.

Excluding nonrecurring items, DMCI’s consolidated core net income still soared by 295 percent year-on-year to P4.1 billion, the company disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Extraordinary items included the following: a nonrecurring loss of P414 million in the comparable period last year due mainly to sales cancellations for a DMCI Homes project; a nonrecurring gain of P167 million owing to deferred tax re-measurement on Maynilad’s service concession asset; and, a P12-million gain on sale of land of DMCI Homes this year.

“We had a better-than-expected first quarter because of higher construction accomplishments and better coal sales. With the exception of Maynilad, all of our businesses also did very well,” said Isidro Consunji, chair and president of DMCI Holdings.

“Our performance in the next quarters will largely depend on how the prices of coal, nickel and electricity will hold up. We also expect some operational headwinds for SMPC (Semirara Mining and Power Corp.) given the abnormal water seepages at Molave North Block 7 and the forced plant outages,” he added.

DMCI Homes returned to profitability in the first quarter, posting a bottom line of P1.6 billion compared to a net loss of P197 million a year-ago. Higher construction accomplishments and recognition of downpayment from new accounts shored up this quarter’s earnings.

Net income contribution from SMPC jumped by 113 percent year-on-year to P1.3 billion as its coal business and subsidiary Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. benefited from improved demand and average selling prices for coal and electricity.

DMCI Mining’s income contribution also soared by 1,496 percent year-on-year to P415 million due to the combined effect of higher production, shipment, nickel grade and average selling price.

First quarter contribution from construction arm D.M. Consunji Inc. doubled to P342 million from P170 million on higher construction accomplishments and minimal expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, quarantine restrictions continued to weaken billed volume and average effective tariff for Maynilad Water Services. INQ