Construction projects bolster Megawide profit

Government-led infrastructure projects and renewable energy capacity expansion allowed Megawide Construction Corp. to post in the first nine months of the year total profits of P562 million, a 69-percent surge year-on-year.

Tycoon Edgar Saavedra-led Megawide on Friday said revenues inched up by 7.2 percent to P16.3 billion. The construction segment did the heavy lifting for Megawide as it contributed 96 percent to overall revenues at P15.5 billion.

“Strong macroeconomic growth, coupled with easing interest rates, were supportive of business expansion and bode well for construction,” Saavedra, Megawide president and CEO, said in a statement.

“In addition, we are also benefiting from the government’s infrastructure development and renewable energy capacity buildup, which we hope to capitalize moving forward,” he added.

READ: Megawide completes Cebu airport divestment

Megawide’s major public-private partnership projects include the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) and Clark International Airport.

During the period in review, Megawide bagged eight new contracts worth P8.91 billion, six of which were the solar power projects of newly listed affiliate Citicore Renewable Energy Corp.

The manufacturing side, meanwhile, more than doubled its revenues to P2.8 billion on strong external sales of the precast and construction solutions segment.

PITX, real estate revenues up

Land port operations through PITX booked a 14-percent climb in revenues to P386 million, boosted by higher average daily foot traffic of 136,000.

Revenues of real estate unit under PH1 World Developers ballooned tenfold to P377 million on fresh gains from several projects.

Total reservation sales at PH1, which Megawide acquired from affiliate Citicore Holdings Investments Inc. last year, stood at P11.8 billion.

This is “expected to translate to revenues over the next two years as construction progress on these projects accelerate,” according to Megawide.

Last month, the company divested its remaining stake in Mactan-Cebu International Airport, the country’s second-busiest gateway, as it slowly shifted to property development through PH1. —Meg J. Adonis