Megaworld profit up 36% as office rental income hits all-time high
Tycoon Andrew Tan-led Megaworld Corp. grew its attributable net profit last year by 36 percent to P13.4 billion, beating market consensus forecast, on the back of record-high office rental income alongside an expansion in real estate development revenues.
Megaworld’s net profit exceeded by 18.7 percent the P11.29-billion earnings that analysts expected the company to deliver in 2021, based on market forecasts culled by Bloomberg.
Including earnings to minority equity holders of parent, Megaworld generated P14.4 billion in net profit, 36-percent higher than the previous year.
Consolidated revenues increased by 17 percent year-on-year to P50.8 billion with the gradual easing of mobility restrictions.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, revenues for the fourth quarter of 2021 reflected a 37-percent jump to P13.9 billion as all core businesses registered double-digit growth.
This performance implied that for the fourth quarter alone, Megaworld generated P5.24 billion in net profit, more than double the P2.47-billion earnings chalked up in the same period in 2020.
In 2021, the office segment hit a record-high income of P11.1 billion as the firm closed contracts, both new and for renewal, for 236,000 square meters of space. Office occupancy rate during the year stood at 90 percent, better than the industry average of around 81 to 84 percent.
The shopping mall segment, on the other hand, posted P2.3 billion in rental income last year, 10-percent lower than the previous year’s level.
Real estate sales grew by 25 percent to P31.1 billion as construction activities picked up during the year.
As an indicator of future revenue growth, reservation sales grew by 17 percent to P80 billion for the year.
“There has been a huge demand for titled lots [for] both our residential and commercial offerings last year. We can see this trend to continue even this year,” said Kevin Tan, chief strategy officer at Megaworld.
The company launched 11 new residential and commercial lot projects with total sales value of P28 billion for the year, more than three times the inventory brought to the market in the previous year. These projects are located in various townships, including the following: Maple Grove and Arden Botanical Estate in Cavite, Northwin Global City in Bulacan, Paragua Coastown in Palawan, Eastland Heights in Rizal, McKinley West in Taguig City and Alabang West in Las Piñas City.
