RLC earmarks P17B for ’15 capex

ROBINSONS Magnolia. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Gokongwei-led property developer Robinsons Land Corp. has set aside P15 to P17 billion for capital spending next year, mainly to build new shopping malls and expand some of its existing hubs.

Frederick Go, president of RLC which marked on Tuesday its 25th anniversary as a publicly listed company, told reporters that the gross leasable area (GLA) of the company would expand by 11 percent next year with the opening of three new malls—in Las Piñas, San Jose (Antique) and Cebu—and the expansion of its Novaliches mall.

Robinsons Galleria Cebu is the next big mall that RLC will open. It will have a GLA of 76,000 sqm and will be operational by August next year. Six months after the opening of the Cebu mall, Go said the adjacent 220-room Summit Hotel—RLC’s second hotel in Cebu City—would open.

RLC derives 64 percent of its earnings from assets that produce recurring earnings like shopping malls, hotel and office property while the remaining 36 percent comes from residential development.

Go said property assets with recurring income would remain RLC’s priority in the next few years.

Go said it was hard to tell whether the mix would will drastically change because the residential development segment would depend on market conditions.

“But definitely, the portfolio of recurring assets is definitely growing. That has been our original business plan and we’re sticking to it.

“Residential (business) is always there but we always respond to market conditions,” he said.

For 2015, Go said RLC would expand the shopping mall in Ilocos Norte. Based on earlier reports, the expansion of the Ilocos Norte mall will add about 25,000 sqm in GFA and 15,000 sqm in GLA.

The expansion of Novaliches mall, meantime, will add 10,000 sqm in GFA and 6,000 sqm in GLA.

On the hotel business, RLC is now operating about 2,000 rooms, including those under the budget hotel chain brand “Go Hotels.”–Doris C. Dumlao