Highlands Prime sees profit jump in 2013

SM Group-led Southern Luzon leisure estate developer Highlands Prime Inc. sees net profit doubling this year and expects to spend P650 million for capital spending in support of future growth.

“We have a sustainable growth for the next five years,” HPI president Henry Sy Jr. told reporters after the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting Tuesday.

“This year, we’re expecting to double net income,” said HPI senior vice president Shirley Ong as income would be supported by revenues to be booked from its two Tagaytay projects—Linden Tower and the 27-hectare subdivision project Aspenhills.

“We’ve started selling in the second half of last year so topping off of projects could be by the end of this year, during which they will be substantially completed,” Ong said.

HPI’s net profit stood at P32.2 million in 2012, a reversal of the net loss of P35 million in the previous year. This year, Ong said net profit would be double the 2012 level.

For the P650 million capital spending, a little more than P500 million has been earmarked for the construction of the second phase of Woodridge Place, Ong said. Woodridge is a low-rise condominium community inspired by the mountain resorts of the Colorado region in the United States. Linden Tower, for instance, offers 113 units targeted for turnover to homebuyers by the fourth quarter of 2015. Unit sizes range between 41 and 240 square meters.

Another P150 million is earmarked for the acquisition of additional landbanking outside of those spun off by Belle Corp. more than a decade ago into HPI. The company has about 800 hectares of landbank within the Tagaytay Highlands area. Doris C. Dumlao