DMCI profit more than doubles to P16.4 B

MANILA, Philippines - The sale of a stake in a water distributor and strong performance of its core businesses boosted the earnings of Consunji-led DMCI Holdings Inc. in the nine months to September this year.

In a regulatory filing, DMCI Holdings said its consolidated net profit more than doubled to P16.4 billion from P7.9 billion a year ago.

“The significant rise is primarily caused by the recognition of a 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, with DMCI booking P8.35 billion as one-time gain.

Core earnings, which strip off non-recurring items like asset sales and foreign exchange fluctuations, inched up two percent to P8.03 billion from P7.9 billion.

“The company’s domestic-oriented businesses remain robust and continue their strong growth,” DMCI Holdings said.

In the nine-month period, the power generation business accounted for nearly a third of core earnings, followed by real estate (25.33 percent), water utility (18.44 percent) and construction (14.26 percent). Parent firm and other income, coal mining and nickel operations accounted for nearly 10 percent of core profits.

The improved performance of the power production, real estate and construction businesses offset lower earnings of coal mining, nickel operations and water distribution.

Specifically, net income of subsidiary SEM Calaca Power Corp. surged 181 percent to P2.65 billion from P944 million.

“This was driven by the strong performance of the newly-rehabilitated Calaca power units,” DMCI Holdings said.

“Construction and residential real estate segments also reported respectable double-digit improvements in their net income,” it added. Construction unit D.M. Consunji Inc. reported a net income of P1.14 billion, up 19 percent from P962 million a year ago.

“This was due mainly to billable works done for the building projects,” the company said.

D.M. Consunji is currently building Phase 1A of Solaire Resort and Casino, power plants in Batangas and the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway. It is also the contractor for the P15-billion NAIA Expressway project and the MRT-7 project.

DMCI Project Developers Inc., which operates under the brand name DMCI Homes, grew its income 11 percent to P2.03 billion from P1.83 billion last year.