SYDNEY, Australia—Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) plans to spend about P100 billion in capital expenditure (capex) next year as it further expands its operations, its executives said here.
MPIC Chief Finance Officer David Nicol said the amount is higher than this year’s spending of about P79 billion, or an increase of 26 percent.
Some P38 billion of the capex will be allocated for the toll-road business, under Metro Pacific Tollways Corp.; P21 billion for power distributor Manila Electric Co.; P17 billion for light rail, P12 billion for Maynilad Water Services Inc.; and P6 billion each for the hospitals and logistics business.
Including those of the PLDT Inc. and Philex Mining Corp., the company is spending some P145 billion next year, Nicol added.
Over the next five years—from 2018 to 2022—MPIC will spend some P653 billion to cover its committed projects, he said.
Nicol added MPIC is focusing its spending, about 67 percent of the total amount, primarily in the Philippines. The focus is on “high-quality infra projects that are well-built, efficiently run and fairly priced.”
“We have over P200 billion of unsolicited proposal that are working their way through the administration at the moment,” Nicol said during the company’s annual briefing. “In addition to that, we did submit early in the year for the Clark Airport—a P330-billion 115-million passenger development program that haven’t been taken up. Our strategy is areas where the infrastructure is inadequate and we will keep submitting those proposals to the government.”
At the moment, more than half of MPIC’s income comes from power, 23 percent from toll roads, 20 percent from water, and the rest from hospitals and other businesses the company operates.
By 2021, its power-business contribution will be reduced to 42 percent, toll roads will have contributed 34 percent and water at 15 percent.
MPIC Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan earlier said the company may end up with a full-year core net income of P13.8 billion—a new record high. The said figure is 14 percent higher than last year’s P12.1 billion.
“Our selective expansion into [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region] is continuing to build momentum,” Pangilinan said. “Meanwhile, here in our home market, I believe that our various long-standing regulatory issues are slowly seeing some light of day, and hopefully will develop into satisfactory closure finally.”