EARNINGS: MPIC's Jan-Sep net income up 142% to P2.94B

Diversified conglomerate Metro Pacific Investment Corp. on Wednesday said that its core net income in the January-September period climbed year-on-year by 142 percent to P2.94 billion as a result of "strong performance" of most of its operating companies. In a statement Wednesday, the Pangilinan-led firm said that the improvement in its core net income is attributable to higher profit contributions from Maynilad Water Services Inc., Manila Electric Co., and Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. "The performance of Maynilad, Meralco, and the Tollways Corp. in the first nine months of this year reflects our focus on driving improved customer services, achieving operational efficiencies and lowering costs," said Metro Pacific president and CEO Jose Ma. K. Lim. "The positive results for the first nine months of this year show[ed] that we are reaping the benefits of the investments made by the company over the past two years," Metro Pacific chairman Manuel Pangilinan said in a briefing. Pangilinan said Metro Pacific is prepared to raise its guidance on core profitability for this year to P3.5 billion from the earlier figure of P3.3 billion. Metro Pacific said that Meralco's net income in the first nine months rose year-on-year by 80 percent to P9.15 billion, while its revenues went up by 32 percent to P188.9 billion. The company said the growth of energy sales to the industrial sector has contributed to the significant improvement in Meralco's system loss performance. "Large industrial customers are served at the primary distribution voltage-level, thereby reducing technical losses, which accounts for the bulk of total system loss. Meralco is institutionalizing loss-reduction initiatives, improving pilferage management, and expanding its partnership with local government units as part of system loss management in high density residential areas," Metro Pacific said. As it enters into the power generation segment, Meralco will "capture a greater share of the electricity business and provide greater service efficiency to all consumers," according to Metro Pacific. Metro Pacific said that Maynilad's net income in the first nine months went up year-on-year by 52 percent to P3.54 billion, while its revenues increased by 15 percent to P8.85 billion. Meanwhile, the Tollways Corp. net income reached P1.09 billion during the first nine months of 2010 versus P895 million in the same period last year. Its revenues rose year-on-year by 7 percent to P4.34 billion due to a rise in average daily vehicle entries. Metro Pacific pointed out that the Tollways Corp. is continuing to invest in the development of its tollroad network and the alleviation of traffic issues in central Luzon. However, the company's hospital group dropped year-on-year by 19 percent to P341 million. "The earnings decline reflects the poor performance of the nursing schools across the group at Makati Medical, Davao Doctors College, and at Riverside College in Bacolod due to lower enrollees in these schools," Metro Pacific noted. Metro Manila hospital operations also suffered due to the "ongoing investments being made to upgrade facilities and equipment, lower patient admissions compared to the unusually high admissions in 2009 due to the H1N1 virus, and tax deductions on senior citizens," it added. Metro Pacific operates the Makati Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Manila, Davao Doctors Hospital Inc., and Riverside Medical Center Inc. in Bacolod. -- JE, GMANews.TV