Megaworld Corp., an upscale propery development firm owned by tycoon Andrew Tan, said its net earnings reached a record P3.01 billion last year on robust real estate sales.  

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, Megaworld said last year’s income level marked a 48-percent jump from the previous year’s P2.04 billion.  

 “2007 was a great year for us as we hit our highest ever net income in our 19-year history,” said Tan, adding that the company is confident it can sustain its growth across all business segments this year inspite of a challenging business environment.”  

“The Philippine market remains to be resilient and offers vast opportunities for Megaworld to grow its business. We are confident that in 2008 we will continue our growth path and end the year with another record profitability,” Tan further said.  

Megaworld registered revenues of P14.64 billion, 56 percent higher than the P9.37 billion recorded in 2006 as real estate sales breached the P10-billion mark, driven by the strong performance of its residential condominium and BPO (business process outsourcing) projects.  

Real estate sales grew 72 percent to P10.61 billion from only P6.16 billion in 2006 while rental revenues from both BPO office and retail buildings pumped in P931.88 million or an increase of 32 percent from the year earlier level of P707.32 million.

“Filipinos have realized that condominium living, especially in our live-work-play developments, is the preferred choice for urban dwellers. The live-work-play community concept continues to create synergies in all our business segments underscored by the consistent double-digit rise in our rental income,” Tan said.

He said Megaworld will also continue to invest in building its rental income portfolio and within the various communities under its live-work-play concept of development.

Megaworld’s financial position remains strong with cash of P13.64 billion as against total financial debt of P6.35 billion, producing a net cash position of P7.29 billion.

“During these times of global uncertainty, Megaworld has consciously adopted a conservative financial management strategy to ensure all our stakeholders of the company’s financial strength to sustain its businesses,” said Tan.  

To ensure continued growth, Megaworld is spending between P10 billion and P12 billion this year to fund the various projects in its six mega-communities, namely Eastwood City (Quezon City), Mckinley Hills (Taguig City), Forbestown Center (Taguig City), Manhattan Garden City (Quezon City), Newport City (Pasay City) and Cityplace (City of Manila).

In addition, Megaworld is also looking to expand into Iloilo City and Mactan, Cebu within the year.