Philippine Tycoon Consunji’s DMCI Sees Strong Earnings Recovery This Year

DMCI Holdings, the Philippine conglomerate controlled by the family of late founder David Consunji, expects the group’s earnings to recover strongly this year, backed by its strong construction and real estate order book.

The company’s businesses were hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, which triggered lockdowns and quarantine restrictions for most of last year across the Philippines. As a result, DMCI’s net income tumbled 44% to 5.9 billion pesos ($123 million).

“This year, we expect a strong bounce back,” company chairman and president, Isidro Consunji, 72, told shareholders at a virtual meeting on Tuesday.

DMCI’s earnings will be bolstered by its strong construction order book of about 58.7 billion pesos and unrecognized real estate sales of about 79.1 billion pesos, he said. The implementation of the company’s construction and residential projects have been delayed due to pandemic-related lockdowns last year.

Consunji also expects improvements from its mining operations, with the price of coal rebounding from 2020 lows.

While DMCI is on track for an earnings recovery this year, Consunji said it’s unlikely that the level of profits would immediately return to pre-pandemic levels. Depending on the rollout of the Philippines’ vaccination program, “pre-pandemic economic conditions will probably begin in 2023,” he said.

The group is helping the Philippines battle the pandemic and has ordered 30,000 jabs for its own employees.

DMCI has had a good start for this year. Last week, it reported a seven-fold increase in net income to 4.3 billion pesos in the first quarter, powered by contributions from DMCI Homes and mining unit Semirara Mining and Power Corp.

Expansion plans are on track for Semirara, Consunji said. Semirara is building new power generation facilities in Palawan, known as the Philippines’ last ecological frontier, and Masbate, an island province some 380 kilometers south of Manila. It is also boosting its nickel mining capacity to benefit from China’s increasing demand for the material used to make batteries.

Isidro and his siblings—Josefa, Jorge, Luz, Maria Cristina and Maria Edwina—inherited their fortune from their late father David Consunji, who founded DMCI as a construction company in 1954. The company now has interests in real estate development, mining, power generation and water services. Isidro and his siblings were ranked No. 14 on the Philippine Rich List when it was published September last year. Their fortune was estimated at $1.3 billion at the time.