Manny Villar. FILE PHOTO
Villar-led property developer Vista Land & Lifescapes (VLL) reported a banner year in 2017, growing net profit by 12 percent to P9.1 billion as higher earnings from its leasing business complemented the growth in its core housing business.
Revenues last year expanded by 13 percent to P36 billion. Revenues from real estate development were up by 10 percent to P27.6 billion while leasing income rose by 29 percent to P6 billion.
Cash flow as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) advanced by 22.9 percent last year to P15.96 billion.
”We are very pleased to report that 2017 is another banner year for the company,” Vista Land chair and founder Manuel Villar Jr. said in a press statement. “We are taking advantage of the synergies that we have unlocked between our residential and leasing businesses.”
“We have successfully implemented the expansion of our leasing business ending 2017 with over one million square meters of gross floor area (GFA),” he said.
As an indicator of future revenue growth, VLL’s reservations sales continued the 12 percent growth registered in the past three quarters to end 2017 at P64.5 billion sales.
“We remain optimistic for the industry, given the robust demand for our housing products as well as our success in our leasing business propelled by the steady growth in the disposable income, OF (overseas Filipino) remittances, sound Philippine macroeconomic fundamentals and the government’s drive to accelerate economic activities and infrastructure developments outside Metro Manila, where we have a competitive advantage given that we have the widest geographic reach around the country,” Villar said.
Last year was also a record year for Vista Land in terms of project launches.
“We launched 55 projects with an estimated value of P60.2 billion during the year, the highest value we have ever achieved in terms of project launches. We continued with our strategy of opening in new areas aggressively. We are now present in 133 cities and municipalities and we move closer to our target of having a presence in 200 cities and municipalities in the near future,” said Vista Land president and chief executive officer Manuel Paolo Villar.
“As for the leasing side of our business, it now represents 28 percent of EBITDA and 24 percent of net income and this will continue to grow as we continue the expansion of our investment properties to hit 1.4 million square meters of GFA this year,” he added.