Vista Land netted P2.7B in Q1

MANILA  -Billionaire Manuel Villar Jr.’s Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. saw net income during the first three months of the year jump 16 percent to P2.7 billion as margins improved.

Total revenues grew 8 percent to P9.2 billion while gross profit at the residential business amounted to P2.6 billion.

Residential gross profit margin was higher by 400 basis points to 59 percent amid price increases and cost controls, the builder said in a statement on Monday.

“We are pleased with our performance for the first quarter of the year due to our efficiencies and higher margin for the period,” said Villar, who is chair of Vista Land.

From January to March, Vista Land rolled out P10.4 billion worth of projects across the country.

“We are looking at launching more projects this year as we have seen sustained growth from our overseas Filipinos as well as domestic buyers which brough about the 11 percent increase in reservations sales to P18.6 billion for the quarter,” Villar said.

“We will continue with our strategy of maximizing our lands potential and announce more offerings in the upscale, vertical and commercial projects this year,” he added.

Manuel Paolo A. Villar, president and CEO of Vista Land, said they also continued the growth momentum for their leasing portfolio.

“We ended the quarter with 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 younger Villar said.

“We continue to see footfall improvement as people are returning to malls and commercial centers. In terms of our residential business, we will continue to launch more upscale and vertical developments this year combined with commercial developments with our master planned communities to maximize the use of our prime land,” he added.