MANILA, Philippines – Property developer Megaworld Corporation registered double-digit growth in the 1st half of 2019, as its residential, rental, and hotel businesses saw substantial gains.

Megaworld’s net income attributable to the parent company during the 1st half stood at P8.3 billion, 16% higher than the same period last year.

Its earnings were fueled by a 16% growth in its core businesses, particularly residential sales, leasing of offices and malls, as well as its hotels.

Consolidated revenues went up by 18% to P31.7 billion from the P27 billion during the same period last year.

Residential sales grew by 11% to P20.2 billion from P18.1 billion.

Leasing revenues, meanwhile, soared by 20% to P8.1 billion. Megaworld expects to complete 230,000 square meters of leaseable space from its two rental brands of Megaworld Premier Offices and Megaworld Lifestyle Malls. (READ: Megaworld to build 8 more malls outside Metro Manila)

Hotel operations grew the fastest at 80% to P1.3 billion from the recorded P715 million a year ago.

Megaworld chief strategy officer Kevin Tan said the company expects to grow even more this year, as the current economic landscape is quite favorable for the sector.

“Interest rates are on a downtrend, which is a very positive news for our residential business. Vacancies in both office and commercial segments are [at] an all-time low, and we don’t see this changing in the near future due to the robust sign-ups we are seeing from big companies and business owners,” Tan said. – Rappler.com