Property firms post higher earnings from January to March: Philippines

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Some of the company's listed property companies reported positive first quarter results.

Villar-owned Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc. posted a net income of P2.7 billion during the period, up 16 percent from the same period last year.

The company launched a total of P10.4 billion worth of projects across the country.

Against this backdrop, Vista Land set capital expenditures of P28 billion for the year, of which P5.5 billion was spent in the first quarter, mainly for construction and land development.

Vista Land chairman Manuel B. Villar Jr. said the company is pleased with its performance for the first quarter of the year, which he attributed to efficiencies and higher margin for the period.

'Our project pipeline has been robust coming from last year's P40.4 billion project launch and another P10.4 billion for the first quarter of 2023. We are looking at launching more projects this year as we have seen sustained growth from our overseas Filipino, as well as domestic buyers who brought about the 11 percent increase in reservations sales to P18.6 billion for the quarter. We will continue with our strategy of maximizing our land's potential and announce more offerings in the upscale, vertical, and commercial projects this year,' Villar said.

Vista Land raked in P9.2 billion in consolidated revenues, up eight percent.

Real estate revenue was at 4.5 billion while rental income amounted to P3.6 billion for the period. Residential gross profit was at P2.6 billion while EBITDA posted an eight percent increase to P4.8 billion.

'We have seen improvements in our residential business while our leasing business sustained its growth momentum for the period, ' said Manuel Paolo Villar, president and CEO of Vista Land.

'We ended the quarter with over 1.6 million square meters of gross floor area of commercial developments consisting of 45 malls, 56 commercial centers and seven office buildings. We continue to see footfall improvement as people are returning to malls and commercial centers. In terms of our residential business, we will continue to launch more upscale and vertical developments this year, combined with commercial developments with our master planned communities to maximize the use of our prime land. We have a land bank of 2,888.5 hectares as of end March, and with our new product mix it will be at least 27 years of development,' he said.

Antonio-led Century Properties Group (CPG) reported a net income of P302 million, up 21 percent year on year.

Its consolidated revenues grew by 28 percent to P3.3 billion from P2.6 billion a year ago, along with the acceleration of domestic and global economic activities and the reopening of most businesses.

The company earlier announced the expansion of its First-Home Market's product to also offer socialized, economic, and mid-income high-quality residential projects, in addition to its affordable housing products.

'We recently launched new projects, including Phirst Sights Bay Laguna, Phirst Editions Batulao Batangas, and Phirst Centrale in Hermosa Bataan, and as we roll out more projects and new product lines north and south of NCR, we will continue to take opportunities to go on a nationwide scale, which will be our ultimate goal to further accelerate growth', said Marco Antonio, CPG president and CEO.

Another company, Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) reported an increase of nine percent in first quarter net attributable income to P741 million.

Total consolidated revenues and other income increased by nine percent, as well to P4.69 billion in 2023, as all major business segments posted growth.

'Our company achieved growth in all its business segments during the first quarter of the year despite challenges arising from high interest rates and inflation. We are optimistic that our efforts will lead to even better results as we sustain our sales activities. As we remain focused on meeting our customers' needs, we are also excited about the prospect of further expanding our business this year,' said Tristan Las Marias, FLI president and CEO.