EEI posts record income for 2009

MANILA, Philippines - EEI Corp., the construction arm of the Yuchengco Group of companies, posted a record net income of P563 million last year, up 11 percent from the P506 million recorded in 2008, on higher earnings from its overseas operations.

EEI did not disclose other financial details but the 2009 net income has exceeded analysts’ expectations.

At the same time, EEI said its board approved the declaration of a total 10 centavos cash dividends or 2.5 centavos each in four tranches. The dividends are payable on April 30, June 30, Sept. 30, and Dec. 29 this year.

Founded in 1931, EEI engages in the installation, construction and erection of power generating and transmission facilities; oil refineries; chemical production plants; cement plants; food and beverage manufacturing facilities; semiconductor assembly plants; road, rail, and bridge infrastructures; and high rise landmarks.

The company is seeking to further expand its presence overseas as it bids for projects in Papua, New Guinea; Qatar; Singapore; and Guam.

On the homefront, EEI is looking to bag the construction contract for the Taganito nickel mine project, valued at a minimum P1 billion. A joint venture between Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. and local firm Nickel Asia Corp., the Taganito project involves the production of nickel cobalt mixed sulfide in the northeastern region of Mindanao.

Al Rushaid Construction Co. Ltd. (ARCC), the company’s joint venture company in Saudi Arabia, recently bagged a $140.09-million contract to build the central processing facilities of oil giant Saudi Aramco in Manifa. The size of the new contract is already equivalent to 49 percent of ARCC’s order backlog of $265 million as of end-September 2009. 

ARCC is an international organization which provides a diverse range of engineering and contracting services, facilities and products, including but not limited to oil and gas, petrochemical, chemical processing and power generation industries.

The company is currently the subcontractor of a JGC Arabia Ltd. project for National Chevron Phillips – an ethylene plant project ongoing at the Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia.

Aside from this, ARCC is also the service provider of Saudi Aramco in a project involving the replacement and upgrading of flare tips of several gas oil separation plants in the eastern region of the kingdom.

Other ARCC projects currently going on in Saudi Arabia are the Shuqaia II independent water power plant project and the Qurayyah power plant of Saudi Electric Co., both under Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

EEI is a member of the Yuchengco Group of Companies, a leading conglomerate with interests in banking, insurance and financial services, education and property development.

EEI was recently named the best managed small-cap corporate in the Philippines for 2009 by Asiamoney Magazine. A company falls under the small cap category if its market capitalization is $800 million or less.