Megaworld earnings rise 15% to P6.55 B in 9 mos

MANILA, Philippines - Growing sales from several township projects and revenues from office buildings beefed up the earnings of property firm Megaworld Corp. in the nine months to September this year.

Megaworld told the local bourse that its net income reached P6.55 billion in the nine-month period, up 15 percent from P5.7 billion a year ago.

Total revenues jumped 12 percent to P26.68 billion from P23.85 billion last year while reservation sales climbed 20 percent to P56 billion from P46.5 billion.

The firm attributed the uptick to “strong residential sales from residential projects in its townships...as well as strong leasing income from its business process outsourcing (BPO) and retail portfolio.”

Specifically, Megaworld said it recorded good takeup in Newport City, Uptown Bonifacio, McKinley Hill and Eastwood City township projects.

The property company is launching a new P35-billion township development while fasttracking the creation of new retail and office space to sustain growth, its top executive said.

“We are excited to launch next year a new P35-billion mixed-use township project called Woodside City near Eastwood along C-5 in Pasig,” said Megaworld chairman and CEO Andrew L. Tan.

Megaworld commissioned world-renowned architect Skidmore Owings and Merrill to design the first two sustainable buildings in Woodside City that will showcase thousands of trees.

In the nine-month period, the Megaworld property group launched 18 projects: 10 for Megaworld, five for medium-cost housing arm Empire East Land Holdings and three for affordable housing unit Suntrust Properties.

The Megaworld Group is looking to launch at least 25 residential projects this year offering 12,000 new residential units, up from 10,000 units last year.

For the recurring items, rental income from BPO office projects and lifestyle malls rose 20 percent to P4.34 billion from P3.61 billion a year ago.

“We will fasttrack our BPO office developments and lifestyle malls to support the growing demands of the BPO industry and the retail consumers,” Tan said.

“This will enable us to make 2014 a record year in terms of rental income,” he added.

By end-2013, Megaworld expects to have more than 500,000 square meters (sqm) of net leasable area for office space with the completion of Tower 3 and 4 of McKinley Hill Science Hub ,the Venice Corporate Center and Tower A, B and C of 8 Campus Place Tower, all within the McKinley township project.

In more than 20 years of operations, the Megaworld Group has completed more than 310 residential and office buildings with a total floor area of around 5.3 million sqm.

Megaworld is the property arm of Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc., which is also into liquor (Emperador Distillers Inc.), fastfood (McDonald’s franchise operator Golden Arches Development Corp.) and hotels and casino (Travellers International Hotel Group Inc.).