DMCI Holdings Inc., the listed holding firm of the Consunji family, said Tuesday it expects to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2023 as core businesses slowly recover from the global health crisis.
DMCI president and chief executive Isidro Consunji said during the company’s annual stockholders meeting that mining and construction businesses were expected to post significant growth this year while power generation and real estate businesses would face challenges and headwinds.
“Considering the vaccine rollout is only starting, it will probably end by the first quarter of next year. So, the side effects of this pandemic would probably end up at the end of 2022. So, pre-pandemic economic condition will probably begin in 2023,” Consunji said.
He said DMCI Power would likely continue its steady growth while its mining unit would sustain its growth as long as the Indonesian ore ban stayed and demand from China remained buoyant.
DMCI Homes is expected to be back to pre-pandemic level by 2023 while DMCI Construction was anticipated to stage a robust recovery next year as the company looks to win some big-ticket items under the government’s “Build, Build, Build” program.
Water utility firm Maynilad Water Services Inc. is expected be on track by the end of this year as the revised concession agreement with the government would likely be finalized soon.
“For Semirara, we will have a bounce-back this year because coal prices have gone up, but the prices of electricity are going to be down. And the projection is, it will probably remain low for the next two or three years. So it may not attain pre-pandemic profitability, but probably 75 percent of what it attained before,” Consunji said.
Consunji said the company would pursue plans to build a cement facility following the lifting of the ban on issuance of new mining permits.
“The ban on MPSA [mineral production sharing agreement] has been lifted. However, it does not mean to say that our application will be approved or acted upon immediately. We hope so, and if as such after all the permits are given, I think that the cement plant should be running within three years of start of the construction,” Consunji said.