050307: Waterfront's net profit drops to P32.6M from P45.1M

By Honey Madrilejos-Reyes

reporter

WATERFRONT Philippines Inc. (WPI), the largest Filipino-owned hotel chain in the country, reported a lower-net profit of P32.6 million last year from P45.1 million the previous year Operating expenses surged 11.5 percent to P1.45 billion in the same comparable period. Consolidated revenues, however, went up to P1.91 billion from P1.80 billion. Listed at the Philippine Stock Exchange, WPI is 63-percent owned  by plastics king William Gatchalian, through his investment arm Wellex Group Inc. It operates five hotels comprising a total of 1,550 rooms situated in the three island groups of the country. The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., through Casino Filipino, operates several gambling dens in the various Waterfront Hotels. In Manila, it currently operates the Manila Pavilion Hotel and Casino. Down south, it has the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino and the Waterfront Airport Hotel and Casino Mactan; and the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao. Cumulatively, the company operates close to 1550 rooms, employs 1560 employees and has over 41,300 square meters of convention and gaming space. Earlier, Wellex said it is spending more than P5 billion for the development of a hotel-residential resort in Uson Island, Coron, Palawan. To be called Waterfront Island Resort, Gatchalian said the project would sit on a 1, 200-hectare property that he bought 15 years ago. First phase of the project involves the construction of three hotels with 300 rooms each. The hotels will be built near the white sand beach area and will occupy 600 hectares of the property. “The hotels would cost around P2 billion,” Gatchalian said. “We would start building this year and expect to complete all three by 2009.” The second phase, meanwhile, would be dedicated for residential-resort type of development, said Gatchalian. It would occupy at least 100 hectares of the large property. The third facet of the development would be for necessary amenities, including a convention area. According to Gatchalian, his group’s goal is to increase the number of hotels to 20 through acquisition and construction of new ones. “... Three to five hotels are almost in our hands,” he said.

 

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