PROPERTY giant Megaworld Corp. has noted a net income growth of 18 percent, or P4.1 billion during the first quarter this year from P3.5 billion in the same period in 2018.
Excluding a non-recurring gain of about P189 million in the first three months of 2019, the company saw a 13 percent growth in net income compared to last year's figure.
Net income attributable to parent company was pegged at P3.8 billion during the period this year, growing 16 percent from P3.3 billion last year.
The company's double-digit growth in earnings was backed by strong outputs from each of its core businesses such as residential sales, leasing from offices and lifestyle malls, as well as hotel operations.
Megaworld also reported a 15 percent higher consolidated revenues. It moved to P14.9 billion during the first quarter of the year compared to P13 billion during the same period last year.
Of which, about 64 percent of accounts for the company's residential business while 26 percent came from rentals, and four percent from hotel operations. The rest is from the company’s non-core revenues.
Megaworld's chief strategy officer Kevin Tan, in a statement, said it is always encouraging to see all of their core businesses exhibiting positive growth during the first quarter setting the pace for the rest of the year.
"We will be working towards maintaining the growth momentum until year-end," he said, adding that "we are confident that stronger numbers will be achievable given our pipeline of projects this year."
Its residential sales grew by 11 percent during the first quarter, from P8.5 billion to P9.5 billion.
From January to March this year, the company has already generated around P48 billion in reservation sales and has injected about P24 billion worth of new inventory into the market.
Megaworld's rental businesses, likewise, soared by 16 percent -- from P3.4 billion to P3.9 billion.
The company said it is scheduled to complete more than 230,000 square meters of leasable spaces from its office spaces and lifestyle malls spaces in various townships all over the country.
The company’s hotel business, meanwhile, became the fastest growing segment during the quarter, soaring 56 percent. From P368 million to P574 million.
The property developer has launched two new hotels last year, the Savoy Hotel Manila in Newport City and the Twin Lakes Hotel near Tagaytay City.
"This year, we expect to add over 1,000 rooms as we open Belmont Hotel Boracay, Hotel Lucky Chinatown, and Savoy Hotel Mactan Newtown," Tan added.
Now on its 30th year, Megaworld has 24 masterplanned townships and integrated lifestyle communities across the country.
In Negros Occidental, these are the 34-hectare The Upper East and 53-hectare Northill Gateway.
The firm earlier announced that it is investing about P35 billion for these two township development projects in the province.