Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., the listed property development company of tycoon Manuel Villar, said Tuesday new projects and better margins lifted net income by 16 percent to P2.7 billion in the first quarter.
The company reported total first-quarter revenue of P9.2 billion, up 8 percent year-on-year. Real estate revenue was at P4.5 billion while rental income amounted to P3.6 billion. Residential gross profit was at P2.6 billion while EBITDA posted an 8 percent increase to P4.8 billion.
“We are pleased with our performance for the 1st quarter of the year due to our efficiencies and higher margin for the period. Our project pipeline has been robust coming from last year’s P40.4 billion project launch and another P10.4 billion for the 1st quarter of 2023,” said Villar, who is Vista Land chairman.
“We are looking at launching more projects this year as we have seen sustained growth from our overseas Filipino as well as domestic buyers which brought about the 11 percent increase in reservations sales to P18.6 billion for the quarter,” he added.
Vista Land continued to improve gross margin on residential projects, increasing by about 4 percentage points to 59 percent on account of price hikes and cost efficiencies.
Leasing also grew steadily in the first quarter, with foot traffic in Vista Land’s various shopping malls rising as consumer spending remained resilient despite inflation.
“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,” said Manuel Paolo Villar, president and chief executive officer of Vista Land.
He said new projects, including upscale developments, will be launched during the year to maximize the use of the company’s prime properties. Vista Land has a landbank of 2,888.5 hectares at end March, enough to cover at least 27 years of development based on the company’s new product mix, the younger Villar added.
Total assets stood at P323.8 billion while equity was at P126.5 billion.
Capital expenditures for the year are set at P28.0 billion, with P5.5 billion already spent in the first quarter for construction and land development.
