Water supply shortage continued to affect the operations of Manila Water Co. as net income declined 11 percent in the first three quarters to P4.4 billion from a year ago.
The company, however, said core net income climbed 10 percent to P5.8 billion from the previous year on improved efficiency and better operating margins from domestic subsidiaries.
Consolidated revenues rose 10 percent in the nine-month period to P16.1 billion, driven by the contribution of the domestic businesses outside the east zone despite the downward impact of the one-time bill waiver program in the Manila concession during the water supply shortage early this year.
Consolidated costs and expenses increased 18 percent from the previous year to P7 billion, driven by the penalty imposed by Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and the additional service recovery and operational costs relating to water supply shortage.
Manila Water said the performance of the Manila concession was still impacted by the water supply shortage early this year.
Billed volume declined by 2 percent and average consumption went down by 4 percent as a direct result of the lack of available raw water supply for distribution. Revenues grew 3 percent for the period to P12.5 billion.
It said that excluding one-offs brought about by the water supply shortage, direct costs were almost flat in line with billed volume trajectory, increasing only 1 percent from last year to P1.5 billion.
Net income for the Manila east zone concession reached P4 billion in the first three quarters, down 17 percent from a year ago. Isolating the effect of one-offs driven primarily by the water supply shortage, core net income improved by 2 percent to P5.3 billion, it said.
Othel V. Campos
The company’s Cardona Plant was producing more than 84 million liters per day as of September 2019 while the recommissioning and development of new deep wells continued with a total capacity of 58 MLD.
Non-revenue water was stable at 11.5 percent, an improvement of more than 0.8 percentage point from last year’s 12.3 percent.
Domestic operations under Manila Water Philippine Ventures showed strong performance with total net income of P301 million, or 126 percent higher than the previous year.
The growth was led by key subsidiaries Estate Water, Boracay Water and Laguna Water. Estate Water more than doubled its revenues for the period and tripled its net income to P246 million in the first three quarters.
Boracay Water’s billed volume grew by 14 percent on higher number of tourist arrivals with the re-opening of the island posting a net income of 137 percent to P73 million.
Laguna Water saw revenues grow 21 percent from last year due to improved average tariff. Net income of the subsidiary increased 85 percent to P290 million.
