Megaworld Corp., the property unit of billionaire Andrew Tan, posted a net income of P9.27 billion in the first nine months of 2016, up 11 percent from P8.35 billion year-on-year, boosted by higher rental profit.
Megaworld said in a disclosure to the stock exchange nine-month consolidated revenues rose 5 percent to P35.26 billion from last year’s P33.53 billion.
Rental income increased 15 percent in the first three quarters of the year to P7.41 billion from P6.44 billion a year ago, as the company focused on expanding its office and commercial, retail and hotel portfolio.
The company did not disclose the revenue figure for the residential business, which accounts for 60 percent of the group’s total sales.
“Our fundamentals remain strong and we are happy to see that our anticipated aggressive growth in our rental businesses continues. What we are now witnessing is the transition of Megaworld from being just a builder into becoming a landlord. This means that the company will be insulated from any cyclicality from the residential business while having steady or even higher growth moving forward,“ Megaworld treasurer Francis Canuto said.
Megaworld recently opened new malls and commercial centers in its various integrated urban townships in Fort Bonifacio, Iloilo and Cebu.
It also expanded its hotel portfolio with the introduction of another local hotel brand, Belmont Hotel, which launched its first hotel in Newport City late last year.
Megaworld earlier raised its 2016 rental income target to P11 billion from the original goal of P10 billion.
The property company by the end 2016 is expected to hit 1.2 million square meters of rental space with the completion of 114,000 square meters of office leasable space and another 105,000 square meters of retail space.
The company said it would on the average deliver around 150,000 square meters of office spaces and around 75,000 square meters of commercial spaces annually until 2020.
Megaworld to date has 21 integrated urban township developments across the Philippines.
