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MANILA - Ayala Land Inc. likely sustained its first-quarter financial performance in the second quarter, as the property giant gears up for the next phase of its expansion amid an upbeat outlook on the real estate sector, the company’s chief financial officer said.
"It's looking good. It should be consistent with how we performed in the first quarter," Jaime Ysmael told Interaksyon.com.
ALI's net earnings grew by 31 percent to P2.13 billion in the first quarter on the back of higher revenues from its property development and leasing businesses and margin improvements.
"We believe the different drivers of the property market – the economy which actually drives the property market – will remain robust and intact. The macro environment is favorable and supportive of continued growth in the property market," said Ysmael.
The company recently raised P13.6 billion from an equity placement that will bankroll land banking efforts and finance a portion of its investment in the Ortigas group.
"We will continue to effectively look at the requirements and match it versus our funding base and determine if further fund raising needs to be done," said Ysmael.
ALI is preparing for the next phase of its expansion as it eyes significant land banking opportunities amounting to about P36 billion over the next two to three years in addition to its P37-billion capital spending budget for 2012.
"Effectively, we're preparing for the next five-year plan. We look at the opportunities across the entire Philippines. These new opportunities are not in the original plans we have drawn up at least for the year and for us to continue and sustain the momentum, we really need to continue land banking," said Ysmael.
Of the P36 billion, P20 billion will be deployed in Makati and other parts of Metro Manila and the balance in growth centers outside the National Capital Region, such as Nuvali.
"These growth centers are the ones where we believe the demand is big enough, there's favorable infrastructure, the per capita incomes are high enough, plus a good pool of talent base by which to effectively launch our mixed-use development," Ysmael said.
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