By James A. Loyola Megaworld Corporation, the country’s largest developer of integrated urban townships and the biggest landlord of office spaces, registered a 17 percent growth in net income to ₱13.7 billion during the first nine months of 2019 from ₱11.7 billion during the same period last year. Excluding non-recurring gain of ₱189 million, net income grew by 16 percent to a new record high of ₱13.5 billion. Attributable net income stood at ₱12.8 billion, growing 14 percent from ₱11.3 billion the year before. Consolidated revenues during the nine-month period of 2019 rose at a robust pace of 17 percent to ₱48.1 billion from ₱41.3 billion due to the strong performance of its core businesses. Megaworld’s real estate sales grew 11 percent to ₱30.7 billion for the nine-month period this year, from ₱27.6 billion during the same period of 2018. As of end-September, Megaworld launched a total of ₱58.7 billion in new residential inventory while reservation sales reached ₱114 billion. “Megaworld’s consistent growth across all business segments is a clear indicator of where the company is going, and we are very optimistic to finish the year strong,” said Megaworld Chief Strategy Officer Kevin L. Tan. The company’s robust rental income greatly helped sustain earnings growth on the back of strong leasing from Megaworld Premier Offices and Megaworld Lifestyle Malls. The first three quarters saw its rental income rising 19 percent to ₱12.4 billion from ₱10.5 billion during the same period last year. “Our rental business remains to be a key driver to our consistent growth, and we see this to become stronger in the coming years as we roll out more office and retail spaces in our townships across the country,” explained Tan.