Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., the property development arm of the Villar Group, on Monday said it posted a net income of P2.7 billion in the first quarter, 16 percent higher than last year’s P2.36 billion.
Consolidated revenues rose 8 percent to P9.2 billion for the period from the previous year’s P8.06 billion.
Real estate revenue was at P4.5 billion while rental income amounted to P3.6 billion for the period. Residential gross profit was at P2.6 billion, the company said.
Vista Land said it sustained improvements in its residential gross margin of about 400 basis points to 59 percent due to price increases it implemented and cost efficiencies realized for the period.
The company said it launched a total of P10.4 billion worth of projects across the country during 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 which brought about the 11 percent increase in reservations sales to P18.6 billion for the quarter,” Vista Land Chairman Manuel B. Villar Jr. said.
Vista Land said it had set capital expenditures for the year at P28 billion while P5.5 billion was spent during the first quarter, mainly for construction and land development. Land acquisitions remained muted as the company disclosed that they are looking at maximizing their existing land bank.
Manuel Paolo A. Villar, the company’s president and CEO, said the company has seen improvements in its residential business while its leasing business sustained its growth momentum for the period.
“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 7 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.”
As of end of the quarter, the company said it has a land bank of 2,888.5 hectares.