VISTA Land and Lifescapes (VLL) Inc., the property development firm led by the Villar family, said its income grew 15 percent to P4.5 billion for the first half of the year, from P3.9 billion in the same period last year.
VLL President and CEO Manuel Paolo Villar credits the increase to the rise in the amount of projects launched this year.
Villar said the company may launch at least P50 billion worth of projects by the end of the year. Villar previously pinned the number at P30 billion.
“We may even reach P70 billion worth of launches within the year, because the residential sales are really strong,” Villar said.
So far, the company has launched P28.3 billion worth of projects during the first semester of the year. VLL already exceeded its total launched value for the whole year of 2016 at P26.2 billion.
“We also continued with our strategy of opening in new areas aggressively,” Villar added. “We are now present in 125 cities and municipalities and we closer to our target of having a presence in 200 cities and municipalities in the near future.”
Revenues
CONSOLIDATED revenues for the period were P18.2 billion, up 16 percent from the previous year’s P15.7 billion.
Revenues from real estate were P14.4 billion, up 14 percent, an improvement from the low single-digit growth registered by the company in the previous year.
Recurring revenues posted a 37-percent increase to P2.9 billion, from P2.1 billion in last year.
“As for the leasing side of our business, we ended the period with a gross floor area of over 950,000 square meters of investment properties, resulting in 28 percent of our Ebitda [earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization] now coming from our recurring leasing business and this will continue to grow as we continue the expansion of our investment properties,” Villar said.
Reservations sales sustained the 12-percent growth registered during the first quarter of the year to end the semester at P32.3 billion.
Recently, the company tapped the domestic retail bond market with its P5-billion retail bond offering due 2024 and 2027.
“Over the last few years we made significant strides toward improving the company’s credit profile. We have lowered the cost of our borrowing and extended the maturities of our debt instruments. This is the first 10-year peso retail bond issued by the company,” Villar said.
Bonds
VLL recently returned to the local debt market for the listing of its P5-billion seven-year and 10-year fixed rate bonds in the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEx) platform.
The newly listed VLL Bonds due 2024 and 2027, which carry an interest rate of 5.7512 percent and 6.2255 percent per annum, respectively, have been assigned an “AAA” issuer rating by local debt watcher Credit Rating and Investors Services Philippines Inc., indicating a stable outlook for the company.
The VLL Bond is the first tranche of the P20-billion retail bonds under shelf registration approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission and marks the 21st corporate bond to be listed in PDEx this year. This now brings the year-to-date total of new listings and enrollments to P140.21 billion, 150 percent higher than the same period last year, while the cumulative level of bonds listed or enrolled today stands at P740.92 billion issued by 46 companies comprised of 126 securities.
“The number of listings is a micro indicator of how investible funds, which are almost entirely domestic, remain sizable enough to supply the needs of corporate issuers that are now able to return to market in regular and more frequent intervals,” PDS Group President and CEO Cesar B. Crisol was quoted in a statement as saying. “This is a heartening sign that the Philippines is still within a virtuous cycle of economic growth.”
Image credits: Roderick L. Abad