Villar-led property firm posts record net profit

Property developer Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. (VLL) grew its net profit last year by 14 percent to a record-high of P7.2 billion, on the back of organic growth as well as additional earnings from the consolidation of shopping mall developer Starmalls Inc.

Excluding the results of Starmalls, VLL’s 2015 net profit was up by 10 percent to P6.3 billion.

Starmalls posted P904 million in net profit last year, up by 57 percent, on the back of a 44-percent growth in rental revenue to P2.6 billion.

The consolidation of Starmalls into VLL is seen boosting the company’s recurring earnings to 25 percent of group-wide cash flow this year and 25 percent of net income in two years, VLL president Manuel Paolo Villar said in a briefing yesterday.

From 2012 to 2015, Starmalls expanded its business at a compounded annual growth rate of 22.4 percent.

The consolidation is also seen to translate to a “solid reduction” in operating expenditures, making the group’s operations more efficient as it unlocks synergy from the union, VLL chair Manuel Villar Jr. said.

VLL expects to end this year with more than 860,000 square meters of retailing space compared to 509,000 sqms when it acquired Starmalls.  The target is to breach the one-million mark in gross floor area by next year.

VLL brought to the property market P40 billion worth of real estate projects in 2015, 48 percent higher than year-ago level. Sales take-up, an indicator of future revenue growth, rose by 10 percent to nearly P5 billion last year.

Revenue last year also reached a record P28.7 billion, up by 12 percent. Starmalls—where it now holds an 88.34-percent interest interest—represented 10 percent of revenue in 2015.

“Our strategy in the residential sector is paying off and our recent acquisition of Starmalls adds stability to our existing operations,” the younger Villar said.

VLL is the holding company of five residential business units: Brittany, Crown Asia, Camella Homes, Communities Philippines, and Vista Residences with the addition of Starmalls, its commercial business arm.