Double Dragon profit surged to P560.8M in ’14

Double Dragon Properties Corp. said its net income in 2014 surged by more than four times as real estate revenue more than doubled, following aggressive expansion moves since its initial public offering early last year, a stock exchange filing showed.

Double Dragon, started by businessmen Edgar Sia II and Jollibee Foods Corp. founder Tony Tan Caktiong, reported that its net income last year hit P560.8 million, up by 360 percent from P122.1 million in 2013. It said real estate sales reached P1.2 billion, up from P511 million in 2013.

The gains came as Double Dragon disclosed the acquisition of several projects, which, in turn, bolstered its real estate inventory.

Among these was a 6,000-square meter prime corner commercial lot in Divisoria, Manila.

It also entered into a joint venture for a 4.8-hectare prime property in the Bay area of Pasay City.

Double Dragon said it increased its real estate inventory by 200 percent in 2014 over the previous year, to P2.2 billion. A big part of that gain came from the acquisition of the The SkySuites Tower project in Quezon City in September last year, the company said in its filing.

“2014 has been a significant year for Double Dragon both financially and in terms of the partnerships we have formed through various property projects that we have recently embarked on,” Sia, who sits as Double Dragon co-chair, said in the filing.

“Let us keep in mind that this is only the beginning of what we all expect to be a robust future,” he added.

Double Dragon added that it had already secured a total of 33 hectares of prime land across the Philippines, with a total of about 480,000 sqm of leasable space, once fully developed. The company said that figure was already about 48 percent of its five-year total leasable space target of one million square meters.

“Double Dragon is in line with its goal of completing 25 CityMalls by the end of 2015 and 100 CityMalls by 2020, all in prime and strategic locations around the country,” it noted.

The company’s total assets at the end of 2014 amounted to P18.48 billion, mainly due to a P10.2-billion increase in investment properties and a P3.7-billion increase in cash and cash equivalents. Miguel Camus