Vista Land Q1 profit jumps 11%

Villar group-led property developer Vista Land & Lifescapes (VLL) grew its first quarter net profit by 11 percent year-on-year to P2.3 billion as revenues from residential development and leasing expanded at a double-digit pace.

Consolidated revenue for the quarter hit P9 billion, up by 14 percent from year-ago level, VLL said in a regulatory filing.

The group recorded revenue from real estate sales amounting to P7.12 billion for the three month period, a growth of 10 percent from the same period last year. This was due to the increase in the overall completion rate of sold inventories of its business units, particularly Vista Residences, Crown Asia and Camella Homes.

VLL uses revenue recognition method where revenue is computed based on the stages of development of the properties.

Leasing revenue for the quarter also significantly increased by 50 percent to P1.44 billion. The company also added about 70,000 square meters of gross floor area in its investment properties from expansion of existing malls.

Vista Land chair Manuel Villar Jr. said: “2017 promises to be another record year for Vista Land. We are pleased to have been able to achieve solid growth over the past years and should have no problem continuing the trend this year.”

Vista also launched new projects worth about P12 billion in the first quarter of 2017.

VLL president and chief executive officer Manuel Paolo Villar said: “We have seen a continued significant growth in our leasing business as we continue to roll out our expansion programs to achieve our stated target of 1.3 million square meters in GFA by the end of 2018. As a result, our leasing business now accounts for 28 percent of Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) and 22 of net income and we expect this to increase toward the end of the year.”

Capital expenditure for 2017 are expected to reach P35.3 billion.

“In addition to the expansion of our rental spaces, which provides stability to our existing core and stable end-user housing business, we will continue to open in new areas across the Philippines as we embark on our next 100 new cities and municipalities in addition to what where we had at end of 2016.”

VLL is present in 107 cities and municipalities across 44 provinces in the country as of end-March. The company intends to focus on the development of “communicities,” referring to integrated urban developments combining lifestyle retail, prime office space, university town, healthcare, themed residential developments and leisure components.

The company’s total consolidated assets as of end-March amounted to P180.6 billion compared to P174.8 billion in December of last year.