Yuchengco firm profit soars 67% in 2007

House of Investments Inc. (HI), the listed holding firm of the Yuchengco family, reported a net income of P340.56 million last year, up 67 percent from the previous year, on the strong performance of construction unit EEI Corp. and higher income on car dealership as well as gains on the sale of stocks.

In a financial report filed with securities regulators, HI said revenues grew 34 percent to P15.68 billion while gross profit increased to P2.52 billion from P2.44 billion.

EEI posted a net income of P304 million or 52 percent higher than the year earlier level as revenues rose 42 percent to P7.48 billion. The company benefited from robust production mainly from overseas operations.

Construction contracts contributed P5.3 billion or 71 percent of total revenues. The figure represents a 13 percent jump from the previous year’s P4.7 billion.

Revenues from services, principally from income derived  from management and service fees from overseas affiliates and subsidiaries, rose more than four-fold from P355 million in 2006.

On a per share basis, EEI’s after-tax earnings amounted to 30.4 centavos compared with only 21.9 centavos in 2006.

EEI continued to take advantage of the strong Middle East economy as construction  work accelerated during the year in review. Project orders backlog from its overseas operations  totaled P15.28 billion as of the end of 2007.

The company is currently undertaking contract packages worth a total of $270 million consisting of balance-of-plant construction, erection and commissioning works in the 1.3-million tons per year ethylene plant and pyrolysis furnace contract for Eastern Petrochemical Co. (known as Sharq). This Middle East contract is one of the largest-ever awarded in recent years to a Philippine contractor.

On the homefront, EEI had an orders book total backlog of P5.507 billion as of end-2007. New domestic contracts and orders booked totaled P3.92 billion.

Car dealership unit Honda Cars Quezon City Group (Quezon City/Manila/Marikina/Fairview) reported a 37 percent growth in revenues to P3.38 billion due to the strong take-up of the new CRV model which was launched in April and the continued strength of the Civic sales. Total unit sales went up 25 percent from 2,965 to 3,721.

The HCQC Group’s performance mirrored the total performance of Honda Philippines and the whole automotive industry in the Philippines. Total passenger car sales rose seven percent with Honda registering the best growth at 11 percent. Commercial vehicles improved even better, increasing by 15,564 units (25 percent) with Honda garnering a 95 percent increase from 2006.

HI also said revenues from real estate operations expanded 40 percent to P175.14 million as a result mainly of healthy sales of its property project.