Megaworld earnings boosted by REIT listing

Towships developer Megaworld Corporation posted a 36 percent growth in net income to P14.4 billion last year from P10.6 billion in 2020, boosted by the listing of its real estate investment trust (REIT).

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said attributable net income also grew 36 percent to P13.4 billion in 2021 from P9.9 billion the year before.

Consolidated revenues increased by 17 percent year-on-year to P50.8 billion from P43.5 billion previously.

Real estate sales grew by 25 percent year-on-year to P31.1 billion from the previous year’s P24.9 billion as construction activities picked up in 2021. Reservation sales improved 17 percent to P80.0 billion from P68.1 billion in 2020.

During the year, the company launched 11 new residential and commercial lot projects with a total sales value of P28 billion, more than triple from the previous year’s launches.

Taking advantage of the opportunities brought about by the resumption in economic activity, the company launched two new townships in Palawan and Bulacan in the second half of 2021.

“There has been a huge demand for titled lots, from both our residential and commercial offerings last year. We can see this trend to continue even this year,” said Megaworld Chief Strategy Officer Kevin L. Tan.

In 2021, Megaworld Premier Offices hit a record high rental income of P11.1 billion as it closed around 236,000 square meters of new and renewal transactions. Office occupancy rate during the year stood at 90 percent.

Megaworld Lifestyle Malls’s rental income dropped 10 percent to P2.3 billion as the country implemented several lockdowns due to the surge in COVID-19 infections.

Meanwhile, Megaworld Hotels & Resorts posted a 30 percent improvement in hotel revenues to P1.9 billion from P1.5 billion in 2020.

“In 2021, we shifted gears from pandemic management to restarting our growth trajectory, and our initiatives on this front have begun to bear fruit. As our numbers have shown, all our business segments registered significant improvements, even as we continue to provide assistance to ensure the recovery of our various stakeholders,” said Tan.

In 2021, Megaworld launched its REIT company MREIT which debuted listed in the PSE. To date, Megaworld has received net proceeds of around P23.5-billion from REIT-related transactions, which will be used to support the company’s project pipeline.

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The article was originally published in Manila Bulletin and written by James A. Loyola.