Megawide income up 16% to P635.8 million in Q1

MANILA, Philippines — Listed engineering and construction conglomerate Megawide grew its net income by 16 percent in the first quarter to P635.8 million, boosting prospects for this year given the growth in the airport business and the improving construction business, its top official said.

“We are optimistic about the company’s growth prospects in 2018 with the increasing contribution from our airport business and the expected pickup of our construction business toward the end of the year,” Megawide chairman and CEO Edgar Saavedra said.

He attributed the double-digit increase in net profit to the continued robust growth of the airport business segment, which now contributes 62 percent to the company’s consolidated net earnings.

The construction business segment, meanwhile, accounted for the remaining 38 percent.

On the other hand, revenues during the quarter recorded a seven percent decline to P4.4 billion a result of the cyclical nature of the construction business segment.

The construction business segment alone posted P3.7 billion in revenues, 11 percent lower than in the comparable period last year.

This is due to projects in varying stages of construction in the order book and the scheduled start of construction for new projects booked toward the end of 2017 such as Hampton O&P, Cold Storage Caloocan, 8990 Ortigas, Ascott-DD Meridian Park and Double Dragon Tower Phase 3, Megawide said.

The company nevertheless bagged new contracts during the first three months of the year amounting to P13.3 billion, representing 124 percent of total new contracts booked in 2017.

The awarded projects include the expansion of Clark International Airport, Gateway Mall 2 Hotel, Golden Bay Tower, Taft East Gate and Space Ubelt.

Meanwhile, airport operations posted P646.1 million in revenues, 13 percent higher year-on-year, as passenger volume grew 11 percent with international passengers outperforming domestic passengers in terms of growth at 14 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

Megawide operates the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) and is on track to completing Terminal 2 next month.