Megaworld’s leisure estate arm Global-Estate Resorts Inc. (GERI) grew its net profit last year by 56 percent to P1.5 billion on higher residential sales and rental income.
Including earnings attributable to minority interest, GERI’s net profit last year rose by 45 percent to P1.6 billion.
In a statement on Monday, GERI reported that its growing number of tourism estates and integrated lifestyle communities backed by expansive land bank had been its backbone for growth since its consolidation into the Megaworld Group in 2014.
The increase in earnings last year was mostly attributed to real estate sales, which comprised more than 70 percent of GERI’s business.
Residential sales grew by 4 percent to P4.5 billion in 2017, mostly from the residential projects in Alabang West, Boracay Newcoast and Twin Lakes. As GERI completed some residential projects during the year, realized gross profits from prior years’ sales soared by 112 percent to P819 million from the previous year.
“In the next three years, we will be introducing more integrated lifestyle communities where nature becomes the focal point of our developments. Our existing land bank offers abundant nature reserves that we want to further nurture and preserve as part of our communities,” GERI president Monica Salomon said.
GERI also posted record rental income in 2017, growing this segment by 54 percent to P161 million with the opening of its first full-scale mall: the P2-billion Southwoods Mall in Southwoods City, Biñan, Laguna.
GERI has five tourism estates and two integrated lifestyle communities across the country covering around more than 3,000 hectares of land: Boracay Newcoast in Boracay Island, Aklan (150 hectares); Twin Lakes in Alfonso, Batangas near Tagaytay (1,200 hectares); Southwoods City on the boundaries of Carmona, Cavite, and Biñan, Laguna (561 hectares); Sta. Barbara Heights in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo (173 hectares); Alabang West in Las Piñas (62 hectares); Eastland Heights in Antipolo, Rizal (640 hectares); and The Hamptons Caliraya in Lumban-Cavinti, Laguna (300 hectares). —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA