MANILA, Philippines?Housing developer Vista Land & Lifescapes grew its first quarter net profit by 26 percent to P873 million from a year ago on robust sales of new houses to overseas Filipino workers.

Real estate revenues were up by 22 percent to P3.28 billion from a year ago. Gross profit margin improved to 49.5 percent from 48.7 percent a year ago and is expected to firm up at 50 percent for the rest of the year, Vista Land senior vice president Ricardo Tan Jr. said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

"We are off to a strong start this year and we are on track to achieve our full-year targets for 2011," Tan said.

Capital expenditures for this year are expected to reach P11.1 billion.

"We are confident about the prospects for our company," Tan said. "Fortunately, we have so far not seen any negative effects from recent events in the Middle East and Japan. Sales to overseas Filipino workers, which account for about 60 percent of the total, have remained robust. This is due in large part to the strength of our Camella and Lesandra brands, which dominate the housing market in their respective segments."

Flagship brand Camella sells housing units worth P1.2 million to P4 million, catering to the middle-income segment, and Lessandra sells units worth P1.2 million and below, catering to the low-cost segment.

A special cash dividend of 3.5 centavos was declared payable this June 28 to shareholders of record as of June 1. Tan said this would be on top of the regular dividends usually declared during the third quarter.