Empire East sees higher sales in ’15

Empire East Land Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of tycoon Andrew Tan’s Megaworld Corp., is eyeing continued growth in 2015 as it launches new projects and considers funding options.

Empire East president Anthony Charlemagne Yu said the first quarter 2015 reservation sales, a revenue indicator, had already “exceeded” year-ago levels.

“All indicators show we will exceed what we had last year,” Yu said. Empire East booked P22 billion in reservation sales in 2014.

Yu said the builder was working on eight projects, with another two to be brought into the pipeline this year.

“There are banks asking if we want to have loans and we’re looking into it because the rate is so low,” he added, clarifying that a final decision had yet to be made.

Empire East earlier budgeted about P5 billion for capital spending in 2015, or about 25 percent higher than its 2014 spending, its annual report showed.

For the first quarter of the year, Empire East said net income hit P138.1 million, up 86 percent. Consolidated revenues during the period rose 54 percent to P1.33 billion.

The group registered real estate sales of P1.06 billion for three months of the year, up from P670.6 million in 2014.

The sales generated were derived from various projects including Southpoint Science Park, San Lorenzo Place, Pioneer Woodlands, The Sonoma, The Rochester Gardens, The Cambridge Village, California Gardens Square, Kasara Urban Resort Residences, Little Baguio Terraces and Laguna Bel Air Projects.