VILLAR-LED property developer Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. (VLL) on Monday said its income reached P5.2 billion for the first half of the year, a 16-percent increase from last year’s P4.5 billion, on brisk sales of its residential developments that its leasing growth struggles to keep up with.
With the rate of increase, the company is adjusting upward its growth rate for the year to between 15 percent and 17 percent, from the previous trajectory of between 12 percent and 15 percent, said Manuel Paolo Villar, the company’s president and CEO.
For the second quarter alone, the company’s income grew 20 percent to P2.63 billion from P2.18 billion.
Revenues grew P11.06 billion, more than 20-percent increase from last year’s P2.18 billion. This brings its consolidated revenues for the first half to P21.14 billion, a 16-percent increase from P18.2 billion last year.
Real estate and recurring revenues both registered a 16-percent growth to P16.7 billion and P3.3 billion, respectively.
Reservations sales grew 18 percent during the period to P38 billion, outpacing its 12-percent growth last year.
“We remain confident about the company’s prospects for the rest of the year as we continue to expand our rental spaces which complements our existing core and stable end-user housing business,” Villar said.
As of end-June, the company had a total gross floor area of 1.11 million square meters of its malls and offices after it opened retail areas in Iloilo and Naga, which Villar said was well received since they were built near the existing Vista Land communities.
Of the said figure, 889,819 square meters were for its shopping malls and 226,227 square meters for its offices, which was the same as in the end of the first quarter.
“We launched residential projects worth P23.7 billion during the first semester of the year, most of which were low and affordable and outside Metro Manila. As a result, we have increased our geographic presence to 143 cities and municipalities and 47 provinces, moving closer to our 200 cities and municipalities target in the near future,” he said.
Starmalls Inc. income contributed P1.2 billion in Vista Land’s earnings, 19 percent higher than in 2017.
“We remain optimistic for the industry given the strong and improving demand in our residential business, as well as the sustained growth of our leasing business,” Vista Land Chairman Manuel B. Villar said.