Megaworld unit profit up 50% on homebuyers’ Boracay binge

Megaworld Corp.’s leisure and tourism-focused brand, Global-Estate Resorts Inc. (Geri), saw robust earnings last year as buyers snapped up vacation homes in Boracay and Tagaytay.

Geri said in a stock exchange filing that profit for the full-year 2016 jumped 50 percent to P1 billion, when taking out an P82 million nonrecurring gain. Total revenues last year hit P5.66 billion, up 9
percent.

Geri and Megaworld are controlled by billionaire Andrew Tan.

According to the regulatory filing, Geri’s core residential business delivered around 83 percent of all revenues.

Real estate sales last year rose 6 percent to P4.4 billion. Geri’s rental income, meanwhile, surged 75 percent to P105 million.

“The fast take-ups of our residential offerings in Boracay, Iloilo and Tagaytay have further gained ground in expanding our revenue pie,” Geri president Monica Salomon said in a statement.

“As we launch more residential projects this year, we expect this uptrend to continue, and help us further surpass the P1-billion net income we achieved in 2016,” she added.

Late last year, Geri launched Eastland Heights, a 640-hectare “integrated lifestyle community” in Antipolo, Rizal.

Geri also has five township developments across the country covering around more than 2,000 hectares. These include: Boracay Newcoast in Boracay Island, Aklan (150 hectares); Twin Lakes in Alfonso, Batangas near Tagaytay (1,200 hectares); Southwoods City on the boundaries of Carmona in Cavite and Biñan in Laguna (561 hectares); Sta. Barbara Heights in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo (173 hectares); and Alabang West in Las Piñas
(62 hectares).

Megaworld currently owns an 82.3-percent stake in Geri. —MIGUEL R. CAMUS