The holding firm’s net profit was tempered, however, by a significant decline in the coal and power segments. Coal mining was weighed down by lower coal prices while the power segment operated at reduced capacity due to the rehabilitation of one power plant unit.
The biggest contributors to DMCI in terms of attributable net income for the first nine months were the water (P1.87 billion), real estate (P1.83 billion) and coal mining businesses (P1.8 billion). Earnings from water and real estate grew by 21 percent and 47 percent, respectively year-on-year, while coal earnings fell by 14 percent.
Contribution from construction increased by 27 percent to P962 million while the electricity business contributed 6 percent less at P944 million from the level in the same nine-month period last year.
Meanwhile, earnings from nickel mining improved by 25 percent year-on-year to P449 million.
DMCI’s investment in the water sector is recognized mainly through its equity investment in the partnership with Metro Pacific Investments Corp. in Maynilad Water Services. DMCI owns 44.59 percent of the consortium company which in turn owns 91.9 percent of Maynilad, which boosted its nine-month profit by 19 percent year-on-year to P5.09 billion.
The construction business under D.M. Consunji, Inc. posted a 64 percent year-on-year growth in revenues to P7.3 billion, boosted by projects in Entertainment City and the Raffles Suites and Residences. Construction activity from the Tarlac-Pangasinan-LaUnion Expressway (TPLEX) also contributed.
DMCI’s order book (balance of work) as of end-September reached P14.3 billion, mostly from the power plant contracts in Batangas and the Entertainment City project. This does not include the MRT-7 railway project, which was already awarded to DMCI but still pending financial closing.
The Group’s real estate business under DMCI Project Developer recognized 45 percent higher revenues at P7.4 billion year-on-year due to progress of residential projects. As an indicator of future growth, sales and reservations take-up for the first nine months reached P13.7 billion, equivalent to an average monthly take up of 1.5 billion. This was 6 percent higher than the average monthly sales take up achieved for the whole of 2011.