8990 sees P4-B profit by end-2015

Leading mass housing developer 8990 Holdings Inc. posted a net income of P937 million in the first quarter, slightly higher than the P933-million bottom line in the same period last year, on steady revenues from housing operations.

For the full year, 8990 sees its net income growing by 15-21 percent to a range of P3.8 billion to P4 billion.

“We did well in the first quarter given our goal to launch nine new projects this year, and we are on track to meet the P10-billion projected revenue by yearend,” 8990 president Januario Jesus Atencio said in a press statement.

8990 sees revenues growing between 23 percent and 28 percent to a range of P9.6 billion to P10 billion this year.

During the first quarter, operating expenses of 8990 jumped by 21 percent year-on-year to P367 million due to the one-time payment of taxes arising from the sale of hotel buildings in Boracay and Baguio City to affiliate Azalea Leisure and Resorts Corp. (ALRC).

Without the one-time tax payment, the net income of 8990 would have increased by 3 percent to P1 billion.

Atencio said the company “remains bullish about the industry on the back of the country’s expanding economy, higher remittances from Filipinos working and living abroad, the growing business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology (IT) sectors, amid the four-million housing backlog in the Philippines.” Doris Dumlao-Abadilla