Megaworld's ?06 net profit rises 75% to P2B

By Honey Madrilejos-Reyes

Reporter

MEGAWORLD Corp., the property development arm of businessman Andrew Tan, reported Tuesday that its net profit last year rose 75 percent P2.04 billion, from P1.16 billion a year earlier. Higher revenues that amounted to P9.4 billion boosted company profit, the company said in a statement, quoting Megaworld chairman and president Andrew Tan. Tan said the rosy financial results came from real-estate sales, which almost doubled from P3.15 billion in 2005 to P6.16 billion last year. Another growth impetus was the increase in rental income from buildings leased by business process outsourcing firms and retail projects. Income from rent rose to P707 million. "The main difference between the two property booms is that in 2006, we were just on the verge of a major property upswing and we kicked it off with our best performance yet," Tan said. "We believe that given the positive macro picture, the current property up cycle is far more sustainable than 1996." Listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange, Megaworld is spending P16 billion this year to fund its residential, BPO and retail projects in its six mega-community projects including McKinley Hill in Taguig City, Newport City in Pasay City, Manhattan Garden City at the Araneta Center and Eastwood City in Quezon City. The residential projects that have been master-planned in the six mega-projects add up to around 2.2 million square meters in floor area. This housing inventory will be large enough to last over the next seven to eight years, according to analysts. For the BPO office projects, the company is planning to build 500,000 square meters of leasable space in the next five years. Half of these will be completed within the next two years. The Eastwood City CyberPark in Quezon City, the country's first information technology (IT) park accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, remains Megaworld's foremost supplier of office space. It is home to over 60 firms, half of which belong to BPO and IT-enabled services sector. Currently, five high-tech office projects are under construction at the site. Offering about 20,000 square meters of office space is e-Commerce Plaza, slated for completion by yearend. The second phase of a new business center, 1880 Eastwood Avenue, will offer some 35,000 square meters of leasable space. Scheduled for delivery by the second quarter of 2008, 1880 Eastwood is on the heels of the successfully launched 1800 Eastwood Avenue, which hosts high-profile firms such as DELL Philippines and IBM Business Services. Global One Center, with a floor area of about 35,000 square meters, will be finished by the second half of 2008. TechnoPlaza 2, on the other hand, will add more than 38,000 square meters to CyberPark's floor space inventory. TechnoPlaza 2 is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2009. In addition, the International Finance Center, with close to 24,000 square meters of office space, will welcome tenants by the last quarter of 2010. Megaworld has raised P21 billion to fund the projects it has lined up for development over the next few years.

 

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