By Arjay L. Balinbin, Senior Reporter
MEGAWIDE Construction Corp. expects to secure one contract worth P20 billion by December of this year and another by early next year, bringing its order book to P100 billion.
“We expect one package to be around P20 billion. We expect a minimum of two packages. The best scenario is two in December, but most likely one [package] this year and one early next year like January or February,” Megawide Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Edgar B. Saavedra said at an online briefing on Wednesday.
If the second contract is secured, the company should be able to reach a total construction order book of P100 billion by early next year.
“Mahi-hit ko na ‘yan (I will be able to hit that). It’s just a question of how long,” Mr. Saavedra noted.
To recall, Megawide’s order book was P68.4 billion by the end of last year after it secured new projects such as the Malolos-Clark Railway project, Carbon Market Redevelopment, Aglipay Sewage Treatment Plant, Westside City Resorts World, and the Newport Link.
“As of end-March 2021, the company added The Coral Village project in Cebu and the Westside City Site A, which involves the construction of a retail strip and theater mall to complement the hotel and casino complex,” Megawide said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday.
“These resulted in the order book of P66.1 billion as of March 31, 2021, net of completions for the first quarter,” it added.
The company intends to participate in three to four contract packages of the Metro Manila Subway project and another three to four contract packages of the North-South Commuter Rail-South Line project, Mr. Saavedra said in his presentation at the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting on Wednesday.
“Megawide believes that infrastructure will be an emerging growth segment and a catalyst for economic recovery. As such, it has shifted gears and focused its build up on infrastructure, ending 2020 with a 15-percent share in the order book from a less than five percent in 2019,” the company explained.
The listed company suffered an attributable net loss of P389.02 million in 2020 versus the P859.49-million profit logged in 2019.
The company saw its total revenues decrease by 35% to P12.92 billion in 2020 from the previous year’s P19.88 billion.
Its first-quarter attributable net income stood at P2.85 million, down from P200.94 million in the same period in 2020. Total revenues fell 22.8% to P3.83 billion from P4.96 billion previously.
Megawide considers 2020 as the “year of recovery.”
“Our strategy has always been to create our own opportunities, when possible, as evidenced by our planning and execution even during the strictest community quarantine. We do, however, recognize that the business environment remains very unpredictable,” Mr. Saavedra said.
Megawide shares closed 1.18% lower at P6.70 apiece on Wednesday.