8990 nears 2019 earnings performance

Leading mass housing developer 8990 Holdings Inc. is trending to hit this year its earnings level last seen in 2019 or before the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the economy, based on its financial performance as of the second quarter.

8990 Holdings reported a 133-percent year-on-year jump in first semester net profit to P3.46 billion.

For the second quarter alone, net profit improved to P1.9 billion compared to just P138.93 million in the same period last year, when quarantine restrictions were at their strictest. Sequentially, the company’s second quarter net profit also increased by 22.5 percent from the first quarter bottom line of P1.55 billion.

“Our first half performance reflects the hope and optimism of Filipinos for socioeconomic recovery with the successful roll-out of the vaccination program by both the government and private sector. Our resilient people are now again ready to pursue their lifelong dream of having their own homes,” 8990 Holdings chair Mariano Martinez Jr. said in a press statement on Tuesday.

Martinez noted that the huge increase in its revenue and net profit was not merely due to the low-base effect from last year, as its first-half performance was already close to matching the company’s P15.4-billion revenues and P5.86-billion net income level in full-year 2019.

8990 Holdings reported a 104-percent year-on-year increase in revenue in the first half to P10.01 billion.

For the second quarter alone, revenue surged to P5.53 billion from P1.42 billion in the previous year.

Sales in the first half of the year came mostly from Luzon at P6.74 billion, or 71 percent of total. Visayas contributed 15 percent of sales at P1.47 billion, while Mindanao had a 13 percent share amounting to P1.27 billion.

In terms of total units sold over the first half, Luzon accounted for 56 percent or 3,318 units, followed by Visayas at 27 percent or 1,606 units. Mindanao contributed 16 percent or 965 units.

While 8990’s gross margin declined from 54.6 percent to 49.5 percent, net income margin improved from 30.2 percent to 34.5 percent year-on-year. Likewise, earnings per share surged to 64 centavos from 27 centavos in the first semester of last year.

Despite the lingering effects of the pandemic, Martinez said 8990 would continue to “perform well for the remainder of the current fiscal year.” INQ