MacroAsia profit gets lift from Philippine Airlines

MANILA, Philippines — Lucio Tan’s MacroAsia Corp. expects profits to rise by more than 20 percent this year with the addition of new groundhandling and airline catering contracts from flag carrier Philippine Airlines.

“This year will definitely be significant growth for us in terms of profitability,” MacroAsia chief financial officer Amador Sendin told The STAR.

“A growth of 20 percent is still conservative,” he said.

Sendin said MacroAsia’s income for 2018 finished flat due to ongoing expansions.

For this year, he said the company’s expected strong profitability would be driven primarily by the growth in catering and groundhandling operations.

“This is because 2019, starting last March 16, we’re serving PAL for catering and fully on ground handling. It’s the first time that we’re servicing them, first time we’re running their kitchen,” Sendin said.

Although MacroAsia has already been servicing PAL and PALEx in previous years, these airlines have been using other providers in the Philippines for some segments of their requirements.

Since March 16, MacroAsia has been designated as the preferred ground handler for PAL and PALEx in Manila and Mactan, Cebu, involving activities related to passenger services, ramp handling, cargo and others.

The company has also been tapped by Philippine Airlines to be its inflight meals provider in NAIA, using the PAL Inflight Kitchen near NAIA Terminal 2 as the production site.

MacroAsia has earmarked P6 billion over the next three years to support expansion of its businesses locally and possibly make its first venture abroad.

Sendin said the listed aviation services company will spend about P1.5 billion for its various subsidiaries this year, higher than the close to P1 billion investment last year.

Of the P6 billion allocation over the next three years, Sendin said the biggest portion would be used for its economic zone in Cebu.