MacroAsia suffers big income drop

Airlines services provider MacroAsia Corp. (MAC), a company under the Lucio Tan group, reported a significantly lower net income last year of only P3.02 million, largely due to the difficulties experienced by the global aviation industry.

The company’s profit was a huge 96-percent drop fromP82.77 million in 2001.

MAC services the in-flight catering needs of most international airlines flying in and out of Manila and Cebu.

The company said the series of global developments have put tremendous restraints on revenues and added pressure on costs relentlessly.

Consolidated revenues fell nine percent to P607.55 million from P667.38 million in 2001. Revenues from catering operations likewise decreased by 12.37 percent, largely due to the lingering global effect of the Sept. 11 attacks and the conflict in the Middle East, which restricted foreign travels, scaled down the flight frequencies of international and domestic airlines and forced airlines to continuously cut on their costs.

MAC said passenger loads and flight frequencies of airlines are the two most important factors that affect the revenue levels of its operating units.

While revenues declined in 2002, direct costs and operating expenses moreover kept their upward swing as the rising prices of raw materials and essential supplies and utilities like power and diesel fuel appeared uncontrollable. In proportion to operating revenues, total direct costs and operating expenses were up by five percent.

Other income went down from a total of P58.2 million in 2001 to P8.12 million last year, mainly because of the P25.2-million asset-impairment charge recognized in the books and the decrease of P30 million in equity in net earnings of associated companies.

This write-down represents the excess of the carrying value of the land held for future development over its recoverable amount based on its estimated fair market value as determined by an independent firm of appraisers.

MAC operates an economic zone at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) through its 100 percent-owned subsidiary MacroAsia Properties Development Corp., the registered developer/operator of the economic zone. Through another wholly-owned subsidiary, MacroAsia Air Taxi Service Inc., MAC provides aircraft charter services from its base at the Manila Domestic Airport.

Its aircraft ground-handling operations at the NAIA are carried out by its 70-percent owned subsidiary, Macro-Asia-Menzies Airport Services Corp. – Zinnia dela Peña