ABOITIZ Land Inc., the property-development arm of the group, said it is spending P5 billion in capital expenditures (capex) this year, mostly to fund the construction of its current projects.
Rafael Fernandez de Mesa, the company’s first vice president for operations, said the bulk of the spending will be for its residential projects in Cebu and Lipa in Batangas, while expanding its Lima Technology Center industrial park, also in Lipa.
“Our focus is primarily midmarket house and lot that tends to be in the provincial areas,” de Mesa said.
Last year the company also spent P5 billion in capex.
He said the company will launch in the next two months a midmarket residential project in Nueva Ecija this year, another one in Tarlac and an expansion project in Lipa.
Its Nueva Ecija project involved 20 hectares of development containing 1,000 units of homes.
“In the markets where we are focusing, in the midmarket house and lot, the demand continues to be strong, especially in the provincial locations, as Metro Manila gets more saturated,” he said.
AboitizLand continued to be a laggard among the companies under Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV), the holding firm of the Aboitiz family.
As of the first quarter of the year, the company only contributed 1 percent on AEV’s income.
AboitizLand and other subsidiaries lumped together reported a net income of P59 million for the first quarter, down 18 percent year-on-year due to increased borrowing expenses for the funding of developments.
“AboitizLand will continue its expansion efforts in Luzon and Mindanao, capitalizing on strong residential and retail demand. The Outlets at Lipa—a commercial retail development—aims to open in the first half, while there are plans to develop a mid-market residential project in Mindanao,” the company said.