Vol. XXI, No. 201 [ Business World Online ]
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
RESIDENTIAL and business process outsourcing (BPO) office developer Megaworld Corp. expects to end the year with another record profit as it banks on the continued growth of the local property market.
"We believe that the property market still has a lot of room to grow and we continue to be responsive to the demands of our buyers," said Megaworld Chairman and Chief Executive Andrew Tan.
"We expect to end 2008 with about P3.8 billion in net profit, thus making another year of record profit," he added.
For the first quarter, Megaworld said net profit jumped by almost a third to P1.01 billion from P786 million, with its focused business strategy of work-live-play-learn development continued to strengthen its hold on the middle-income market.
"Our market-oriented strategy and single-minded approach to excel in all our business segments have provided the company with a strong platform to sustain our growth," Mr. Tan said.
Total revenues for the three-month period reached P4.67 billion, two-thirds higher than P2.86 billion a year earlier as real-estate sales hit P3.31 billion.
In February, Megaworld pre-launched three new residential condominium projects with a sales value of more than P9 billion. These projects were One Central in Makati City, Parkside Villas at Newport City in Pasay City and Morgan Executive Suites at McKinley Hills in Taguig City.
The company has also lined up several new BPO office buildings, namely E-Commerce Plaza at Eastwood City, Two and Three World Square at McKinley Hill, One Campus Place at McKinley Hill and Newport Corporate Plaza at Newport City.
Meanwhile, its subsidiary Empire East Land Holdings, Inc. posted a first-quarter net income of P58.5 million, up by 5% from a year earlier. Empire East’s account was consolidated with Megaworld after the latter increased its stake to 59.8%. — Lovely Nica P. Lee
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