DMCI eyes double-digit profit growth

The Consunji family’s DMCI Holdings Inc. may improve profitability by double digits this year despite challenges faced by affiliate Maynilad Water Services Inc., an official said.

Construction magnate Isidro “Sid” Consunji, chair and and president of DMCI Holdings, said the firm aimed to generate between P12 billion and P13 billion in income for 2015. This would translate to a profit growth of 17 percent to 27 percent.

DMCI Holdings reported a core net income of P10.26 billion in 2014, which was 3 percent lower than the year-ago level.

Power seems to be one of exciting segments this year. “We’ve got Unit 1 and Unit 2 up. We’re putting up another expansion on power under Semirara,” Consunji said.

DMCI Holdings unit, Semirara Mining and Power Corp., will be having two new power stations online this year in Calaca, Batangas. This will double the capacity of the current facility to 1,200 megawatts (MW).

“Unit 1 and 2 are running. Unit 3 will be synchronized (connected) to the grid next week and then Unit 4 will probably follow after 60 days,” Consunji said. Each unit has a capacity of 150MW, adding to SEM-Calaca Power Corp.’s existing capacity of 600MW.

After Unit 4 is up, there will be another expansion, the official said.