Manila Water profit swells despite ebb in volume

Manila Water Company Inc. saw its bottom line rise by 15 percent in the first half, boosted by a higher tariff adjustment.

In a statement Friday, the company said that its net income still grew to P7.95 billion from P6.91 billion. This was despite the decline it recorded for volume billed in its service area.

The group’s east zone concession generated P16 billion in revenues, 11 percent higher than a year ago. Billed volume during the first six months dipped by one percent due to lower consumption from residential customers.

Outside of the East Zone concession, revenues climbed by 11 percent to P4.7 billion. This was driven by the strong performances of Clark Water, Boracay Water, Cebu Water and Estate Water.

Total attributable billed volume dropped 16 percent to 575.1 million cubic meters (mcm) from 686.6 mcm.

Manila Water also noted “improvement” in the operations of its Thu Duc Water business in Vietnam. Likewise with its IWP2 management contract in the Eastern Cluster in Saudi Arabia.

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Capital spending during the January to June period reached P11 billion. The bulk of this invested in boosting its infrastructure for the east zone network.

In June, the company had bared the move to acquire the full control of WawaJVCo Inc. , for P37.8 billion. This is another unit of the Razon Group that runs a water supply dam in Rizal province.

“Our acquisition of Wawa JVCo aligns squarely with our objective of ensuring a credible, consistent, and stable source of water for the communities we serve,” said Jocot de Dios, Manila Water president and CEO.