MacroAsia losses reach P856.7 million

MANILA, Philippines — Lucio Tan’s MacroAsia Corp. continued to feel the impact of the pandemic as it incurred a net loss of P856.7 million in the nine months ending September, a reversal of the P932.7 million net income recorded in the same period last year.

MacroAsia, in a stock exchange filing, said its core business segments continued to be impacted by the downturn in air travel due to COVID-19-related quarantine and airport restrictions since March.

“While the non-airline related revenues generated by the group’s other subsidiaries grew, such growth was not sufficient to offset the revenue decline in the aviation-related segment,” the company said.

MacroAsia’s consolidated revenues plunged to P1.87 billion during the nine-month period from P4.45 billion in the same period last year.

The company said inflight and other catering revenues of P820.3 million generated mostly from 3.55 million meals sold was 61 percent lower than last year’s P2.1 billion generated mostly from the 9.11 million meals sold.

Revenues from ground-handling and aviation services also fell by 59 percent to P836 million during the three quarters from P2.03 billion in the same period in 2019.

Flights handled by MacroAsia declined by 59 percent from 144,705 in 2019 to 58,859 flights from January to September.

“Being an aviation services provider, the group has been impacted during the reporting period by the COVID-19 pandemic as flights were cancelled and airport traffic movements were constrained to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus,” the company said.

“At certain periods during the quarantine period, airline catering meal volumes and flight turnarounds were reduced by more than 90 percent of normal, starting second half of March,” it said.

MacroAsia said the management teams of its aviation services companies  have instituted cash conservation and cost-control measures to cope with the ensuing crisis and business downturn.

With extra capacity made available for food production with the new food commissary outside the airport, MacroAsia  is  embarking to establish its  footprint as a virtual kitchen for institutional clients and brands.

It is also pushing to establish its own food products under “Chef’s Express” on an e-platform and through various resellers.

“Investments in non-aviation related business are currently being undertaken to increase the revenue pipeline in the coming months,” MacroAsia said.