MacroAsia eyes banner season this year

MANILA, Philippines - MacroAsia Corp. expects to have its banner season this year as its ground handling services continue to show strength despite the economic downturn.

In a briefing with reporters following the company’s annual stockholders meeting yesterday, MacroAsia president and chief executive officer Joseph Chua said the first quarter has been very exceptional and expects this trend to continue throughout 2009.

“The economy has stabilized and people have started traveling again. We have seen an increase in the number of flights and meals served over last year,” Chua said.

For the period January to March this year, MacroAsia’s net earnings surged 74 percent to P123.5 million, mainly due to a 28 percent growth in the company’s share in the net income of its associates. Consolidated revenues also rose nine percent or P22.6 million over last year’s P245.4 million.

The Group’s inflight catering revenues improved by seven percent due to higher number of meals served while ground handling services registered a 28 percent increase in revenues.

Chua said Lufthansa Tecknik Philippines Inc. (LTP), a joint venture with Lufthansa Technik AG of Germany, continues to be MacroAsia’s major revenue contributor.

LTP provides aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services from its facility in NAIA to Philippine Airlines, Lufthansa Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways and other international airlines that fly to Manila. It also provides technical ground handling services to various international clients.

MacroAsia expects to complete its exploration activities on its nickel mine in Brooke’s Point Palawan early next year. Based on latest estimates, the mine has an ore resource of more than 92 million metric tons with nickel grace of 1.01 to two percent.

The mine s estimated to last 13 years with 12 million wet metric tons of mineable ore.

Once the exploration activities have been completed, MacroAsia is considering putting up a nickel processing plant. It is scouting for potential investors for this proposed project. “This is the best way to maximize our mining tenement,” Chua said.