Property developers Megaworld Corp., Filinvest Land Inc., and Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. posted double-digit growth in profits in the first quarter, boosted by strong contributions from core residential and leasing businesses.
Megaworld said in a disclosure to the stock exchange net income jumped 18 percent to P4.1 billion in the first quarter from P3.5 billion in the same period last year. Excluding a non-recurring gain of about P189 million in the first three months of 2019, the company saw a 13-percent growth in net income compared to the same figure last year.
Consolidated revenues grew 15 percent in the first three months to P14.9 billion from P13 billion in the same period last year. Around 64 percent of total revenues came from the company’s residential business while 26 percent came from rentals and four percent from hotel operations. The rest came from the company’s non-core revenues.
“It is always encouraging to see all of our core businesses exhibiting positive growth during the first quarter as this sets our pace for the rest of the year. We will be working towards maintaining the growth momentum until year-end. We are confident that stronger numbers will be achievable given our pipeline of projects this year,” said Megaworld chief strategy officer Kevin Tan.
Meanwhile, FLI also reported a 24-percent increase in first-quarter net income to P1.84 billion from P1.49 billion a year ago as revenues climbed 15 percent to P7.2 billion, driven by a 42-percent increase in rental revenue to P1.72 billion and a 10-percent increase in real estate sales to P5.11 billion.
“We are pleased with the first-quarter results as we continue to experience growth in our recurring income business,” FLI president and chief executive Josephine Gotianun Yap said.
Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. of the Villar family delivered a 12-percent growth in first-quarter profit to P2.93 billion from P2.6 billion on sustained growth of residential and mall businesses.
Vista Land said consolidated revenues in January to March reached P11.4 billion, or 14 percent higher than P10.1 billion in the same period last year.
The company recorded P8.78 billion in residential sales, an increase of 12 percent year-on-year. Sales from its low-cost and affordable housing units under Camella and Communities Philippines Inc. jumped 33 percent and 28 percent, respectively in the first three months.
Leasing revenue went up 18 percent to P1.9 billion from P1.6 billion on additional gross floor area leased out and higher rental rates in existing malls.
Vista Land president and chief executive Manuel Paolo Villar said demand for the company’s housing products remained stable, with sales from overseas Filipinos remaining solid at over 50 percent while domestic demand was robust.
“We are optimistic about the prospects for our company for 2019. We have registered growth in our core residential business as well as the sustained increase in our leasing business,” Villar said.
Vista Land launched new projects totaling P10.8 billion in the first quarter.
The property firm earlier reported plans to launch at least P60 billion worth of residential projects this year as it remains optimistic about the prospects for the property sector. It will also spend P40 billion to finance the construction of projects and land banking activities.