By Zinnia B. Dela Peña (The Philippine Star) Updated April 17, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Megaworld Corp., the flagship real estate unit of tycoon Andrew Tan, reported net earnings of P4.06 billion last year, up 7.2 percent from P3.79 billion in 2008.
“In 2009, Megaworld performed well despite the challenging economic environment. We are confident that this is a result of the strategic directions we undertook in prior years and our continued focus on our business model,”said Kingson Sian, the country’s executive director.
Megaworld registered consolidated revenues of P17.8 billion, 2.7 percent higher than P17.3 billion a year earlier. Real estate sales contributed P12.6 billion from P12.4 billion the year before.
At the end of the year, Megaworld’s cash and cash equivalents jumped 70 percent to P20.9 billion largely due to the successful AAA-rated P5-billion bond issuance in November 2009.
“With our strong financial position, solid recurring revenue and profit streams, we are confident about 2010. Apart from the office developments we will be completing, we will continue to launch new residential developments. We will, likewise, continue to be on the lookout for possible opportunities for growth that fit into our business model,”said Sian.
Megaworld is the foremost residential developer in the country and a pioneer in the development of projects revolving around the live-work-play-learn concept. The company currently has six ongoing township projects within Metro Manila and several residential developments in the Makati Central Business District.
Megaworld, likewise, was the first to develop an information technology park in the Philippines through its project in Eastwood City, which provides a 24/7 work environment to business process operations servicing the global market.
With the success of Eastwood City, Megaworld expanded its portfolio to McKinley Hill, which is now home to some of the biggest names in the BPO industry.
Megaworld is acknowledged as the leader in office development and is currently the largest BPO office landlord. It currently has about 306,000 square meters of BPO office space and expects another 78,000 square meters to be completed within the year.
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