Ayala Land nets P21B

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. grew its net profit last year by 19 percent to P20.9 billion, driven mostly by the double-digit expansion in earnings from residential development and shopping mall operations.

The growth is seen in line with ALI’s “Vision 2020,” a roadmap unveiled in 2014 whereby the property developer aims to grow earnings by 20 percent each year to breach P40 billion annual profits by 2020.

Consolidated revenues reached P124.6 billion, 16 percent higher year-on-year on the back of the stable growth of its property development business, balanced with the steady performance of its leasing portfolio.

In a press statement on Wednesday, ALI president and chief executive officer Bernard Vincent Dy said: “2016 marked another banner year for Ayala Land. We achieved a higher level of profitability coming from the sustained growth of our estates and core businesses. Further, we executed our investment program to ensure continued growth in the coming years.”
 
Property development revenues grew by 17 percent to P79.2 billion,driven by the steady traction of its residential and office for sale segments, complemented with commercial and industrial lot sales.

Commercial leasing revenues grew by 8 percent to P26.6 billion as ALI continued to expand its portfolio of malls, offices, and hotels and resorts.
 
ALI launched P61.5 billion worth of residential and office for sale products last year through its five residential brands such as Ayala Land Premier, Alveo, Avida, Amaia and BellaVita. As an indicator of future revenue growth, residential sales take-up grew by 3 percent to P108 billion.
 
The company also posted a 12 percent growth in mall revenues to P15. billion, attributed to the stellar performance of its mature malls like Glorietta, Greenbelt, Market!Market! and Trinoma, as well as the contribution of its new malls such as Solenad and UP Town Center. 

At end-2016, ALI had a shopping mall portfolio of 1.62 million square meters (sqm) in gross leasable space. The inventory was boosted by new malls like Ayala Malls Legaspi and Ayala Malls South Park and the 55,920-sqm TutubanCenter in Manila as a result of ALI’s acquisition of majority interest in Prime Orion Philippines Inc.
 
Office leasing revenues increased by 7 percent to P5.5 billion, driven by the increasing contribution of newly opened offices such as UP Town Center BPO (business process outsourcing) and Bonifacio Stopover at BGC. Total gross leasable space in its office segment ended last year at 835,742 sqms.

Meanwhile, revenues from hotels and resorts grew slightly higher to P6.1 billion driven by the steady performance of established hotels and resorts, combined with the initial operations of its newly built additional rooms. The group ended last year with a total portfolio of 2,027 rooms, including the newly opened Casa Kalaw at Lio in El Nido, Palawan and Balay Kogon in Sicogon, Iloilo.

“We continue to reshape our business to achieve a more sustainable level of growth by rebalancing our leasing and property development businesses,” Dy said. “Last year, we launched a good mix of residential and commercial properties in both our established and emerging estates. In addition, our strategy remains consistent – to build sustainable communities across the country. And with the government’s thrust to increase spending on infrastructure, we also plan to accelerate the development of our estates that are closely linked to these projects.”
 
In 2016, ALI introduced two key mixed-use developments – One Ayala in Makati Central Business District (CBD) and the 17.5-hectare Gatewalk Central in Mandaue, Cebu, strengthening its track record as the leading developer of sustainable estates currently with 20 estates in key growth centers in the country.

Contributions from ALI’s new and emerging estates in various growth centers in Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao grew to 40 percent last year from 36 percent on top of revenues earned from thriving developments in Makati, BGC, Nuvali, and Alabang.  ALI spent a total of P85.4 billion for project and capital expenditures last year.