Housing business continues to boost Vista Land profit

Villar-led Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. posted a 16-percent growth in its profit in the first nine months of the year, driven by its lucrative housing business.

In a disclosure to the local bourse, the company said its profit grew to P8.3 billion in the first three quarters of the year, up from the P7.1 billion reported in the same period last year.

In the third quarter alone, its profit rose 16 percent to P3.064 billion from P2.650 billion a year ago.

In a briefing yesterday, Manuel Paolo Villar, president and chief executive officer of Vista Land, said that the company was on track to hitting its profit growth target by the end of the year of 15 to 17 percent.

Vista Land previously set its year-end profit growth target at 12 percent, but raised it to the current range after its first first semester performance exceeded expectations.

“We’re cautiously optimistic about the fourth quarter,” he said, noting that they could not predict what would happen to the macroeconomy in the next few months.

Total revenue for the period reached P31 billion, 15.6 percent higher than the previous year’s P26.9 billion. This was accounted for mainly by the company’s real estate revenue worth P24.2 billion, up 16 percent from P20.8 billion last year.

Leasing revenue grew by some 19 percent to P5.182 billion in the first nine months, from P4.349 billion in the same period last year. Interest income rose 5.5 percent to P1.1 billion in the same period.

Vista Land, one of the country’s leading integrated property developers and the largest homebuilder, is behind popular names in the real estate business, such as Camella, Communities Philippines and Vista Residences.

The company has 26 malls across the country as of September this year, 50 commercial centers and seven office buildings.

So far, it has already spent P34.9 billion for capital expenditures (capex) this year. Its 2018 capex budget was set at P45 billion to P50 billion.