Filinvest 2017 net profit up 21% to P10.3B

Gotianun-led Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) grew its net profit last year by 21 percent to P10.3 billion, driven by higher earnings from its banking, property and power generation businesses.

Group-wide revenue for 2017 increased by 15 percent to P67.6 billion, mostly contributed by banking (42 percent) and property (40 percent) and complemented by the power (15 percent) and sugar (3 percent) businesses.

Banking subsidiary EastWest Bank (EWB) reported a net profit of P5.1 billion in 2017, up 48 percent from the previous year.

“We are delighted to see a 48-percent increase in net income even after the 70-percent increase in 2016,” FDC chair Jonathan Gotianun said yesterday.

As the most consumer-centric bank in the country, EWB’s consumer loans accounted for 71 percent of total loans. As a result, EastWest continued to maintain its industry-leading net interest margin (NIM) at 7.8 percent. NIM, net of provisions for loan losses, stood at 5.9 percent.

Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI), the group’s listed real estate firm, ended the year with net income of P5.8 billion, 9 percent higher than year-ago level. This was achieved on the back of a record P20.3-billion revenue, in turn largely due to a major expansion of its retail property portfolio and the continued demand for retail and office space.

The hotel group also continues to build its portfolio under the Crimson and Quest brands. It has taken over the management of the Mimosa estate’s existing facilities. These have been rebranded as Quest Plus Hotel and Conference Center-Clark and Mimosa Golf-Clark. The hotel group recently added a new property to its portfolio: Crimson Resort and Spa in Boracay.

This year, the group will open another Quest Hotel in Tagaytay beside FLI’s Fora Mall, right at the Tagaytay Rotonda. The group currently has eight hotels in the planning and construction stage.

FLI has a joint venture with the Bases Conversion Development Authority to develop 288 hectares of Clark Green City into a mixed-use township with an industrial park anchor. In addition, FDC and FLI have a joint venture with Clark Development Corp. to redevelop the 203-hectare Filinvest Mimosa + into an integrated leisure township. The area’s first office building, Cyberzone Mimosa 1, is expected to be turned over shortly.

“We look forward to being part of development in central Luzon, which we have identified as one of the major growth hubs in the country,” said FDC president and CEO Josephine Gotianun-Yap.

This year, FLI is planning to launch P16 billion worth of residential projects, higher than the P14.6 billion worth of projects launched in Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Dumaguete, Davao and Iloilo last year.

On the power business, FDC Utilities Inc. delivered 32 percent more revenue in 2017, as the group’s flagship 3 x 135-megawatt clean coal facility in Misamis Oriental marked its first full year of commercial operations. “We are happy to support Mindanao’s growth through our power plant and look forward to serving more people in 2018,” said Gotianun-Yap. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA