Megaworld posts P860.7-M income in '99

Property-based holding company Megaworld Corp. registered a net income of P860.7 million from revenues of P2.01 billion in 1999.

In a report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Megaworld said its cash balance amounted to P1.5 billion as of end-1999. Bank loans, on the other hand, totaled a lower P100 million.

Other indicators of the company's sound financial position are total resources amounting to P21 billion and total stockholders' equity of P14 billion.

The largest residential developer in Metro Manila, Megaworld has completed 23 projects since it went public in 1994. Of these, 12 were finished during the crisis years of 1997 and 1998. Five more projects are slated for completion this year; the IBM Plaza office building at the Eastwood City CyberPark and four residential condominium projects, Salcedo Park at the Makati central business district, Gilmore Heights near Greenhills and 8 Wack Wack Road and San Francisco Gardens in Mandaluyong City.

Megaworld is the first real estate company to obtain a Philippine Economic Zone Authority registration for its Eastwood City CyberPark project in Quezon City. Last year, it was transformed into a holding company venturing from its mainstay business of property development into complementary businesses, including information technology, hotel and leisure, gaming and merchandise trading.

The company is investing P500 million in a venture capital fund for export-oriented IT firms locating at the CyberPark. Apart from providing IT locators with incentives that will make their infrastructure costs more affordable, Megaworld will acquire a stake in these firms to boost their growth.

Megaworld recently announced it is embracing new technology to leverage its strengths in the property and IT businesses as a way of enhancing shareholder value. The company said it is looking beyond the Eastwood City CyberPark and aiming for complete technology application within all aspects of its business to become a leading provider of real estate solutions to companies in the fastest-growing businesses such as technology, Internet and software services.

Megaworld is the first and only real estate company to be certified to ISO 9001 in all stages of property development from design to planning, project management, delivery and customer service.