Megaworld first half profit up 18% 

Billionaire Andrew Tan’s Megaworld Corp. said it was on course to reclaim prepandemic business volume as profits in the first half jumped 18 percent to P5.9 billion.

Gains were boosted by sustained office rentals and the sharp increase in residential sales as the builder launched P21 billion worth of homes from January to June this year.

“For the first time since the pandemic, we have achieved double-digit growth across all business segments,” Kevin L. Tan, Megaworld chief strategy officer, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“This is a clear indication that we are on the right track in our goal to finally go back to the pre‐pandemic levels of our core businesses,” he added.

The developer recorded a net income of P8.3 billion in the first half of 2019.

Megaworld, one of the country’s top builders of townships or masterplanned mixed-use projects, said residential sales remained the “primary” earnings contributor in the first half of the year.

Real estate sales hit P17 billion, up 26 percent from the same period in 2021.

Megaworld said reservation sales, an indicator of future revenues, added 38 percent to P51 billion.

“As the economy continues to recover, Megaworld maintains its positive outlook for the future as we build on the company’s consistent performance with an aim to go beyond our targets for the rest of year, ” Tan said.

The company’s office segment also saw a 15 percent increase in revenues to P6 billion. This was credited to the sustained growth of the outsourcing sector, which helped the developer maintain an occupancy rate of 91 percent.

Its shopping malls pulled in P1.5 billion in rental earnings, up 41 percent in the first half.

Resorts and hotels also posted a 49-percent revenue jump to P1.1 billion.

“This was due to the consistent performance of its in‐city hotels and the increase in leisure‐related activities,” Megaworld said.

Megaworld operates 11 hotel properties with about 4,000 rooms in Metro Manila, Cebu, Boracay, Tagaytay, and Iloilo.

To date, Megaworld has 28 master‐planned integrated urban townships and communities across the country.