ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Business devider The Stock Market devider Megawide profit rises on strength of construction business, debt reduction in Q1

Megawide profit rises on strength of construction business, debt reduction in Q1

Published May 21, 2026 10:06 am
Edgar B. Saavedra
Edgar B. Saavedra

Engineering and housing firm Megawide Construction Corp. posted a 26-percent jump in consolidated net income to ₱265 million in the first quarter of 2026 as its construction business remained strong amid the onset of the Middle East crisis.

The firm reported to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Thursday, May 21, that, by business segment, construction delivered ₱262 million to earnings and real estate brought in ₱14 million, with landport incurring a slight loss.

Consolidated revenues grew 14 percent to ₱4.81 billion, with improved results recorded across the portfolio.

Construction remained the biggest contributor at ₱3.84 billion, up five percent, with real estate contributing ₱831 million, or more than double the previous year’s level, and landport steady at ₱138 million.

Margin-wise, consolidated gross margin rose to 24 percent from 22 percent and net margin inched up to six percent from five percent, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin remained almost steady year-on-year at 25 percent.

“Our results in the first three months are consistent with our back-ended target for the year. While we sustained a healthy performance early on, we have yet to quantify the impact of the Middle East war and a newly replenished construction order book in the coming months,” said Megawide Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Edgar Saavedra.

He added that, “We are actively assessing the situation and strategically evaluating the developments to keep us on track with our goals.”

As the impact of the Middle East war that erupted last February has yet to be measured, the company remains grounded in its strategy and focused on achieving its dual objective of topline growth and balance sheet strengthening to shore up profitability.

“The other side of our value creation strategy is boosting our financial position to ease the debt servicing burden and provide financial flexibility. Already, we have pared down almost ₱6 billion of our short-term debt in the first quarter alone, which should translate to an estimated interest cost savings of around ₱250 million to ₱300 million for the year based on our average cost of debt,” Saavedra noted.

Consequently, the company’s bank debt-to-equity (D-E) ratio further improved to 1.1 times as of end-March 2026 from 1.54 times as of end-December 2025, with net D-E ratio likewise breaching the one-times mark at 0.8 times versus 1.1 times, respectively.

These results align with the company’s medium-term commitments under its deleveraging and long-term financial management program.

“For the remainder of the year, we are programmed to pay down another ₱2.5 billion to ₱3 billion from our short-term obligations as we aim to boost our liquidity and free up more debt headroom to support our long-term growth aspirations,” said Megawide Chief Finance Officer (CFO) Jez dela Cruz.

Megawide had an existing construction order book of ₱48.7 billion as of end-March and is currently constructing around 11,000 socialized housing units under the government’s expanded Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino (4PH) program to anchor its social infrastructure platform, together with public market renewal through Carbon Market redevelopment in Cebu City.

The company is also developing Baguio City Integrated Terminal, South Luzon Integrated Terminal Exchange, and Cavite Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System to expand its transportation cross-docking (TCD) portfolio. - James A. Loyola

Related Tags

Megawide Construction Corporation Edgar Saavedra Jez G. de la Cruz
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.