By James A. Loyola Diversified engineering and infrastructure conglomerate Megawide posted a 17 percent growth in consolidated net profit to P2.2 billion last year from the P1.92 billion posted in 2016. Consolidated revenues reached P19.2 billion, 9 percent higher than the 2016 figure of P17.7 billion, driven by the solid performance from both its construction and airport business segments. Megawide Chairman Edgar Saavedra said, “2017 has been a positive year for Megawide as we were able to exceed our guidance buoyed by the strong last quarter performance of our construction business and the outperformance of our airport segment highlighted by a double-digit growth in revenues.” Construction revenues generated P16.7 billion in 2017, a 6 percent increase from 2016’s P15.8 billion due to private sector projects. Quarter on quarter, construction revenues rose by 24 percent to P4.3 billion. Construction remains the core revenue contributor at 87 percent of consolidated revenues. Net income from the construction business grew by 7 percent to P1.1 billion compared to P1.017 billion in 2016. New contracts booked from the private sector totaled P10.8 billion in 2017 with P6.25 billion booked in the last quarter of the year. At the end of 2017, order backlog amounted to P32.6 billion providing earnings visibility for the next two years. “With our optimistic outlook on the country’s macroeconomic fundamentals coupled with the government’s roll-out of its infrastructure plans through its ‘Build, Build, Build’ program, we remain bullish on the continued expansion of our construction business,” Saavedra said. Revenues from airport operations remain solid, registering P2.3 billion of revenues in 2017, a 23 percent increase year-on-year from P1.9 billion as a result of the double-digit increase in passenger throughput of 12 percent.