Razon-led Manila Water Co. reported a 39 percent growth in its net income for the first nine months of this year.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, Nov. 24, Manila Water said its net income jumped from P7 billion last year to around P10 billion by the end of September 2024.
This was driven by higher tariff adjustments for the East Zone concession and its other businesses beyond the Eastern part of NCR. A strong consumer demand also contributed to its current increase.
Jocot de Dios, Manila Water's president and chief executive officer acknowledged the hurdles the company had to overcome in order to reach its performance in the first nine months.
“We understood that sacrifices would need to be made at the onset so that we can establish a robust structure and adopt practices that will result in sustainable efficiencies in our operations, better, more reliable service to our customers, and a more disciplined view of how we pursue growth,” he said.
Its revenues also showed a 19 percent increase from P23 billion to P27.5 billion.
Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) were also raised from P15 billion to P19 billion, which is a 26 percent increase year-on-year.
Its cost of service (COS) and operating expenses, on the other hand, had a minimal growth of four percent from P8 billion to P8.75 billion because of the continued addition of its new facilities that are up for improvement or expansion.
So far this year, Manila Water’s revenue for the east zone concession drove up to 20 percent by P21.8 billion, while its net income grew by 45 percent to P9.3 billion.
“The second tranche of the Rate Rebasing tariff adjustment which was implemented early this year was supported by billed volume growth largely driven by the recovery of economic activity in industrial segment customers,” Manila Water explained.
There is also a six percent increment in the concessionaire’s total billed connections from around 1 million to 1.39 million.
Manila Water also noted that Laguna, Clark, Boracay, and the Estate Water businesses saw improvements in their performances, as revenues increased to 23 percent to P6.5 billion.
Despite the positive financial results, the net income of the company’s overseas operations declined because of lower earnings.
“Lower revenues and the higher cost of raw water were the main challenges for the investment in East Water in Thailand. For the Vietnam businesses, the higher OPEX of Thu Duc Water and Kenh Dong Water affected business performance,” Manila Water elaborated.
Its international arm concluded the first nine months totaled its net loss of P19 million.
Moreover, the third quarter of this year saw the implementation of both water and wastewater projects to ensure careful adherence to regulatory requirements and service commitments.