MANILA, Philippines — Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), the tollways and infrastructure conglomerate chaired by tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan, reported a consolidated core net income of P5.3 billion in the first half, down 38 percent from a year ago.
In a virtual briefing, officials led by MPIC president and chief executive officer Jose Ma. K. Lim said this was largely due to the economic contraction brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.
In the second quarter alone, core earnings declined 62 percent to P1.9 billion, said MPIC chief financial officer David Nicol.
Reported net income, meanwhile, was P3 billion in the first half from P8.1 billion a year ago.
System-wide revenue including Manila Electric Co.’s sales declined 15 percent to P174 billion.
The quarantine reduced toll road traffic and mandated suspension of rail services, and decreased commercial and industrial demand for water and power, MPIC said.
Among the different businesses, power through Meralco accounted for P5.2 billion or 68 percent of net operating income; water through Maynilad Water Services Inc. contributed P1.8 billion or 23 percent and tollroads contributed P900 million or 12 percent.
MPIC’s other businesses – hospitals, rail, and logistics incurred a combined loss of P236 million.
“The resulting movement restrictions reduced volumes on our toll roads even as our light rail line suspended operations for a time. Demand is recovering quickly with the easing of restrictions. At the same time, our power and water businesses maintained full service, with Maynilad delivering increased volumes compared with a year ago,” Lim said.
He said the 31 percent reduction in contribution from operations is largely attributable to sharply lower utilization of transport infrastructure.
“Meanwhile, overheads have been reduced and interest held flat resulting in our first half core net income falling by 38 percent (our first ever) compared with a year earlier,” he said.
Moving forward, Lim said the company would continue to invest into the economy to help the country recover from the crisis but noted that pace of construction for some of its infrastructure projects is slow because of right-of-way issues.
For now, new projects are on hold amid the uncertainties brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nicol said MPIC would pursue its distribution center business as well as its real estate and tourism ventures once the health crisis eases.
Pangilinan said the company is hopeful the second half will be better.
“The second quarter was really bad but I’d like to think we’ve seen the bottom. June was much better, July continued to be better. If this is the last (quarantine), we should see some return to recovery,” Pangilinan said.