VILLAR-LED Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. on Wednesday said its net income grew 12 percent last year on stronger sales of its housing units, while its shopping malls are slowly contributing more to its revenues.
The company said its income reached P9.1 billion last year, up from the previous year’s P8.1 billion, as sales from the overseas Filipino workers (OFW), where about more than half of its residential sales come from, “returned to normal.”
“We expect this year’s profit to also be stronger. It could be a double-digit growth,” Vista Land President and CEO Manuel Paolo A. Villar said.
Consolidated revenues grew 13 percent to P36 billion from P31.86 billion last year. Revenues from real estate reached P27.6 billion, up 10 percent from the previous P25.02 billion, while leasing income—or those coming from shopping malls and office space for rent—posted a 29-percent increase to P6 billion, from P4.7 billion in year 2016.
“As for the leasing side of our business, it now represents 28 percent of Ebitda [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] and 24 percent of net income. This will continue to grow as we continue the expansion of our investment properties to hit 1.4 million-square-meters of GFA [gross floor area] this year,” Villar said.
The company was able to expand its leasing business, which now included the shopping malls of unit Starmalls Inc., ending 2017 with over 1 million square meters of gross floor area.
Reservations sales grew 12 percent over the last three quarters to end the year at P64.5 billion in sales.
“We remain optimistic for the industry, given the robust demand for our housing products, as well as our success in our leasing business propelled by the steady growth in the disposable income, OF [overseas Filipino] remittances, sound Philippine macroeconomic fundamentals and the government’s drive to accelerate economic activities and infrastructure developments outside Metro Manila, where we have a competitive advantage given that we have the widest geographic reach around the country,” the company said.
Last year the company launched 55 projects worth P60.2 billion, a record for the company known for its horizontal developments, such as subdivisions and villages.
“We continued with our strategy of opening in new areas aggressively. We are now present in 133 cities and municipalities and we move closer to our target of having a presence in 200 cities and municipalities in the near future,” Villar said.
Vista Land earlier this year completed its liability-management exercise by issuing its first seven-year $350-million notes with a yield of 5.75 percent. Proceeds will refinance the company’s 2018 and 2019 maturing dollar notes. The exercise pushed the maturity to 2024 at a lower rate, it said.