Eton to build up recurring income

Eton Properties, the real estate development arm of the Lucio Tan group, aims to build up recurring income over the next five years by investing in more commercial centers, retail hubs, business process outsourcing-oriented offices and hotels.

“For 2013 and the next five years, we are focusing our efforts on growing our leasing business to take advantage of the significant prospects in the leisure, retail and BPO market in the country. We are excited to introduce novel concepts to grow our property portfolio and recurring income that will sustain the company’s growth for the long term. Alongside the shift in business directions we shall be realigning our organizational structure and business processes to better serve our target markets,” Eton chief operating officer Danilo Antonio said in a press statement Friday.

The strategy is seen allowing the company to diversify its revenue stream and strengthen its position in the industry while simultaneously sustaining its residential development business.

While construction activities in its ongoing residential projects are going full blast, the company said commercial projects, hotels and BPO offices in major key growth centers in Metro Manila were under market and design study.

“We are very happy with the high occupancy and lease rates in our office buildings given the strong demand from the outsourcing industry. Centris Cyberpod Three in Quezon City, the company’s sixth BPO office building, is scheduled to be completed by yearend. Given the strong demand for office space, the building is expected to be preleased even before turnover,” Antonio said.

Office space is the company’s strongest contributor to recurring income. “Since the market continues to be strong, we are considering some adjustments in the Eton Centris master plan to accommodate future demand for office space and strengthen our BPO presence,” he added.

The first office building, 13-storey Centris Cyberpod One, has been fully leased out to leading companies such as Wipro Technologies, Genpact Services LLC, Unisys Philippines Ltd., Integrim BPO Solutions and Pascual Laboratories, among others.

The entire leasable space in Centris Cyberpod Two, the second building in Eton Centris, has been fully leased to Hewlett Packard, a Fortune 500 company.

Increased rental income from completed BPO offices, Centris Cyberpod One and Two and Eton Cyberpod Corinthian, as well as commercial projects Centris Station, E-Life and Centris Walk and Green Podium brought up rental income by 67 percent year-on-year in the first quarter to P137.9 million. Doris C. Dumlao