Megaworld net income rises 33% on sustained business recovery

MEGAWORLD Corp. on Wednesday reported an attributable net income of P4.1 billion in the first quarter, up 33% from last year, driven by improvements in all its core businesses.

In a stock market disclosure, the listed township developer saw a 24% jump in consolidated revenues to P16.2 billion in the three-month period.

“We start the year strong as we continue sustaining the recovery momentum of our businesses and finally grow past our pre-pandemic performance for the first time since the pandemic began in 2020. This affirms our position in the industry and ability to quickly adapt in this new environment and capture opportunities,” Kevin Andrew L. Tan, Megaworld chief strategy officer said in a statement.

“As we move forward, we are now focused on sustaining our strong growth and look to close the year with a record performance for Megaworld,” Mr. Tan added.

Real estate sales went up by 17% for the quarter to P9.4 billion on the back of higher project completion rates, while residential pre-sales rose 71% to P39.6 billion. The increase was driven by the renewed demand for projects in McKinley West and Uptown Bonifacio in Taguig City.

Leasing revenues saw an 18% growth during the three-month period to P4.4 billion due to the better performance of the mall segment.

Megaworld Premier Offices booked a 5% increase in rental income to P3.1 billion in the first quarter from the P3 billion recorded the previous year on the back of growing tenants from traditional, business process outsourcing, and emerging businesses.

Megaworld Lifestyle Malls, its mall segment, reported 73% higher revenue for the quarter at P1.2 billion due to full rent collection and higher spending.

Meanwhile, Megaworld Hotels & Resorts reached a top line of P813 million as of March, up 62% from last year, driven by the growth of its in-city hotels, meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions or MICE operations, and strong revenues from food and beverage.

Megaworld has 30 master-planned integrated urban townships, integrated lifestyle communities, and lifestyle estates across the country.

At the stock exchanges, its shares rose by 1.01% to P2 apiece. —  Adrian H. Halili