DMCI profit up 134% to P13.5 B in H1

MANILA, Philippines - DMCI Holdings Inc.’s sale of a stake in a water distributor allowed the Consunji-led company to more than double its profits in the first half.

First semester earnings surged 134 percent to P13.49 billion from P5.77 billion a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.

“The significant rise is primarily driven by the recognition of the one-time gain from the partial sale of the water business,” DMCI Holdings said.

Early this year, partners DMCI Holdings and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. sold a 20-percent stake in Maynilad Water Services Inc. to Japan’s Marubeni Corp. for roughly $400 million.

Core earnings, which strips off non-recurring items like asset sales and foreign exchange fluctuations, declined 11 percent to P5.14 billion from P5.77 billion a year ago.

In the first half, the power generation business accounted for 37 percent of earnings, followed by real estate (25 percent), water utility (20 percent), construction (13 percent), coal mining (four percent), and parent firm and other income (less than one percent).

Subsidiary SEM Calaca Power Corp. posted a 176-percent spike in net income to P1.91 billion from P693 million.

SEM Calaca’s sales jumped three-fourths to 1,657 gigawatt-hours (gWh) from 916 gwh last year. Of the total energy sales, 96 percent or 1,589 gWh were sold through bilateral contracts while the remaining four percent was sold to the spot market.

“This is attributed to the higher energy generation of the rehabilitated power plant,” DMCI Holdings said.

The real estate business of DMCI Project Developers Inc. recorded a nine-percent income growth to P1.27 billion from P1.16 billion.

Reservation sales picked up eight percent to P10.2 billion from P9.4 billion given sustained demand for condominium units in new and existing projects.

For Maynilad, first half equity in net earnings of DMCI Holdings slipped 12 percent to P1.07 billion from P1.22 billion last year due to lower shareholdings in the west zone concessionaire.

Operating income rose 15.8 percent to P5.19 billion from P4.48 billion as billed volume gained 2.9 percent amid continuous expansion into the southern areas of Muntinlupa, Las Piñas and Cavite.

Construction unit D.M. Consunji Inc. reported a net income of P675 million, up 12 percent from P601 million.

“This was due mainly to billable works done for the building projects. Most notable of its accomplishments is the completion of Phase 1 of the Entertainment City project,” DMCI Holdings said.

To date, D.M. Consunji is building Phase 1A of Solaire Resort and Casino, power plants in Batangas and the Tarlac Pangasinan-LaUnion Expressway. The company will also be the contractor for the P15-billion NAIA  Expressway project and the MRT-7 project.