Vista Land posts higher profit after cost controls

Billionaire Manuel Villar Jr.’s flagship property firm Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. saw profits rise in the first nine months of the year as the company controlled costs.

The developer said net income from January to September expanded by 12 percent to P6.7 billion while revenues slipped 5.2 percent to P21.2 billion, its latest financial report showed.

Nevertheless, Vista Land rolled out 12 new projects during the third quarter with an estimated value of P21.8 billion.

“We are pleased with our performance, specifically, on our project launches this year,” Villar, who is chair of Vista Land, said in a separate statement.

“Over the last two years we have revisited our reserved lands and we were able to initially identify over 60 potential Vista Estate projects across the country, he added. We remain optimistic with the industry with the strong [gross domestic product] growth recently announced coupled with sustained overseas Filipino remittance and revenge spending from consumers,” Villar said.

“So far, we have launched six Vista Estates and this is just the beginning…our aim is to maximize our existing land to its best use”, he added.

Meanwhile, reservation sales, an indicator of future revenue, climbed 10 percent to P48 billion during the nine-month period.

Vista Land said sales to OFWs remained resilient given their increased spending power after the dramatic deprecation of the Philippine peso. The builder said OFWs accounted for 60 percent of sales.

Manuel Paolo A. Villar, president & CEO of Vista Land, added that earnings were further supported by the company’s growing leasing portfolio.

“The footfall of our malls has been improving and even exceeded pre pandemic levels during weekends and holidays,” he said.

“We have over 1.6 million square meters of gross floor area of commercial developments consisting of 45 malls, 56 commercial centers and seven office buildings. The funding for the expansion program of our investment properties is in place with our foray to the REIT through VistaREIT last June 2022,” he added.

Vista Land ended the period with total assets of P312.4 billion while capital spending during the period reached P19 billion. The developer has land reserves of over 2,920 hectares for future developments.