Empire East plans P20B capex

Empire East Land Holdings Inc., the mid-income residential development arm of tycoon Andrew Tan, expects capital spending to reach as much as P20 billion for the next five years to fund projects within Metro Manila and the Calabarzon area.

For this year, Empire East expects net profit to rise 15-20 percent, supported by progress in ongoing residential projects. Last year, net profit attributable to parent equity holders amounted to P179.38 million.

This year, the company expects to launch 5,000 new residential units, up from 3,000 last year.

Empire East president Anthony Charlemagne Yu said the company was upbeat on prospects for 2012 because reservation sales, which already hit “phenomenal” levels in the first quarter of last year, were again 121-percent higher in the first three months of 2012.

Reservation sales amounted to P3.25 billion in the first three months compared to P1.47 billion in the same period last year.

Reservation sales may double to P15 billion from P7.52 billion this year, Yu said. “So we feel that there’s the momentum and there’s still huge demand and we think it can be sustained all the way to next year and hopefully further,” Yu said. “So we’re very confident about prospects for this year.”

The company’s condominium units are being sold from as low as P2.5 million to as high as P6 million, with monthly amortization of P12,000 to P30,000.

Empire East has six ongoing projects—The Sonoma (Sta. Rosa, Laguna), San Lorenzo Place (Makati), The Rochester (San Joaquin, Pasig City), Pioneer Woodlands (EDSA corner Pioneer Avenue, Mandaluyong), Little Baguio Terraces (Aurora Boulevard, San Juan City) and Kasara (Pasig City).

“All the projects we have online have been selling very fast and we don’t see any reason why there should be any slowdown,” Yu said.

In a report to stockholders, Yu said The Sonoma was now 53-percent sold while Rochester has only 25 percent available inventory remaining for sale. Sales take-up for Pioneer Woodlands, Little Baguio Terraces and San Lorenzo Place now stood at 76 percent, 67 percent and 60 percent, respectively.