D.M. CONSUNJI, Inc.’s (DMCI) order book declined by 8.1% to P45.3 billion for the past three quarters from P49.3 billion in the same period last year amid a slowdown in project bidding and contract awarding.
In a press release on Thursday, its parent firm DMCI Holdings, Inc. said the “moderate” decrease was recorded for both the private and public sectors. It said the unit recorded P8.4 billion worth of contracts and P1 billion in change orders for the nine-month period.
“[The order book] was a bit lower than last year, but next year there’s a lot in the pipeline,” D.M. Consunji President and Chief Executive Officer Jorge A. Consunji told reporters in a recent gathering.
The company recorded P13.3 billion in construction accomplishments as of September this year.
According to Mr. Consunji, the contractor expects headwinds over the medium term amid high inflation, rising interest rates, and higher office and commercial vacancies.
“Public infrastructure projects could provide some upside but it would still depend on the rollout strategy and spending priorities of the national government,” he said in the press release.
In the nine-month period, D.M. Consunji posted P796 million net income, higher by 1.4% than the P785 million income it recorded last year.
“As far as profit is concerned, it is not ideal because [we were hit by] price volatility. It could’ve been better, but we are positively better than last year,” Mr. Consunji said.
Meanwhile, the company’s nine-month revenue declined by 7% to P15.33 billion from the P16.48 billion revenue it booked last year.
“If you talk about revenue, it will be slightly lower than last year because na-delay kami sa mga right-of-way (we were delayed by right-of-way issues),” he said.
According to Mr. Consunji, although the contractor did not reach its 2022 targets due to fuel price increases and foreign exchange losses, he remains optimistic about the company’s performance in 2023.
“We expect [next year to be] a little better than this year,” he said. “Remember we are doing some jobs with joint ventures — Department of Transportation, [and] Japan International Cooperation Agency — [as long as the projects acquire the] right of way as they promised, we’re okay.”
Mr. Consunji said that the company held back on some of its projects this year as the promised right-of-way acquisitions were not all awarded.
On Thursday, shares in DMCI Holdings rose 1.56% or P0.15 to close at P9.75 apiece. — Justine Irish D. Tabile