SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority continues to generate positive revenue figures this year, reporting P615.28 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) in just the first four months of 2017.
SBMA Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the agency’s various strategic units contributed more than P1 billion in operating revenues in the period for a 9.5-percent increase over the P919.6 million posted over the first trimester last year.
Minus its operating expenses of P313.5 million and bad debts of P78.2 million, Eisma said the SBMA managed a P56.9-million increase over the 2016 Ebitda of P558.3 million for a 10.2 percent increase in earnings.
“We’re very much optimistic that while 2016 was considered a banner year in SBMA finances, we just might be able to top that at the rate we’re going this year,” Eisma said.
“The SBMA is actually riding an upward trend that began in the past few years, and I believe we can sustain that and that further growth will continue,” she added.
According to a comparative report from the SBMA Finance Group, agency earnings increased further this year compared to 2016 records. The agency’s net income, for example, surged by 148 percent from P18.5 million in the first quarter of 2016 to P46.76 million in the first quarter of 2017.
The biggest revenue contributor among the SBMA business units as of end-April this year was the Port Authority Group, which delivered P476.4 million in the first four months.
The Business and Investment Group followed with total revenue of P426 million; Public Services Group, with P67.5 million; Regulatory Group, with P18.38 million; the Chairman and Administrator’s Group, with P9.25 million; and Support Services Group, with P7.19 million.
The biggest increases as of end-April this year over figures in the same period last year came from the Business and Investment Group, which posted close to P55 million in variance, and the Port Authority Group, which provided an increase of P17.85 million.
Meanwhile, the SBMA Tourism Department reported a 28 percent increase in revenues from visitor and tourist arrivals, as well as hotel occupancy, from January to April this year.
A report from SBMA Tourism showed a total of 894,603 visitors and 161,046 tourists arriving in Subic in the first four months. These figures represented respective increases of 70,648 and 30,284 over 2016 arrivals.
The 2017 arrival figures included some 289,600 visitors who arrived in the Freeport for the Holy Week.
The increase in the number of visitors and tourists this year generated actual revenues amounting to P2.74 million, which is 28 percent higher than the P2.1-million revenue record last year.
Among the events that generated much tourism traffic in the first four months this year was the arrival of the luxury cruise ship MS Bremen, and the three-day Summer Siren beach music festival that was held here in May.