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MANILA, Philippines - The property firm of Senator Manuel Villar said its earnings grew by more than a fifth in the first three months of the year on strong real estate sales.
In a briefing, Ricardo Tan, Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. chief financial officer, told reporters that the company's net income increased to P1.06 billion in the first quarter from P873 million in the same period last year.
"The company's performance for the first quarter was slightly better than expected. We are off to a good start and are on track to achieve our full year targets for 2012," said Tan, adding that the first quarter is usually the weakest period.
He said the company can sustain a growth of more than 15 percent in net income over the next few years because of its business model, which covers the entire real estate market.
Revenues hit P4 billion in the January to March period, 23 percent higher than the previous year’s P3.28 billion.
Affordable housing brand Camella and Communities Philippines, which builds projects in the provinces under the Camella brand, accounted for 67 percent of revenues, while high-end Brittany contributed 15 percent. Middle-income Crown Asia and Vista Residences, the company’s condominium arm, chipped in 13 percent and six percent, respectively.
Quarterly reservation sales breached the P10-billion mark for the first time, up 52 percent from the previous year's P6.69 billion.
Vista Land launched nine projects worth P5 billion, including eight projects in the low and affordable markets and one mid-rise building project in Taguig.
"Thus far, we haven't seen any direct negative impact [of problems in Europe] on sales," said Tan, adding that remittances continued to grow even during the 2008 financial crisis.
As more property developers venture to the low to affordable segment, the market is big enough to accommodate several players, Tan said.
Vista Land will launch five community malls this year to boost its leasing income to P1 billion in the next three to five years. The company has 50 potential locations for its strip malls.
"Puregold [Price Club Inc.] is an obvious partner. We have a strong relationship with them," said Tan.
Vista Land has the broadest geographic reach among property developers given its presence in 27 provinces and 57 cities and municipalities nationwide.
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