Vista Land profit up 21% to P1.7B

MANILA, Philippines - Villar-led property holding firm Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. grew its first half net income by 21 percent on the back of robust sales, as investors remained upbeat on the real estate market given a low interest rate environment and sustained inflows from overseas Filipino workers.

Net earnings of Vista Land rose to P1.7 billion from P1.4 billion as revenues expanded 21 percent to P6.6 billion.

“Vista Land is on a solid growth footing. The sustained increase in our real time sales over the last eight quarters confirms that our company has adopted the appropriate strategy to meet the underlying demand in the domestic property sector. We were quick to react to the steadily improving market sentiment and we have adopted an aggressive project pipeline for the coming years,” said Manuel Paolo Villar, newly-elected president and chief executive officer of Vista Land.

Villar said the company will continue to beef up its presence across the country with the aim of hitting 70 municipalities and cities by 2012. It is currently operating in 21 provinces and 51 cities and municipalities and expects its rapid expansion program to continue in the next two years.

Vista Land chief finance officer Ricardo Tan said the company remains on track to meet its full year financial targets, with sales seen reaching an all-time high of P24 billion or more than double the P11.34 billion recorded in 2010. In the first six months of the year, real estate sales already reached P12.1 billion, up 19 percent from a year ago.

Tan said management is confident that the company would outperform analysts’ net income forecast of between P3.4 billion and P3.5 billion given strong remittances from Filipinos living abroad.

Vista Land is the holding company of business units owned by the family of Sen. Manuel Villar – low cost and affordable units Camella Homes and Communities Philippines, middle-income Crown Asia and high-end Brittany.

Camella Homes and Communities Philippines continued to account for the big chunk of total revenues with a combined contribution of 69 percent, followed by Crown Asia (16 percent), Britanny (nine percent), and Vista Residences (six percent).

For the second quarter alone, Vista Land’s net earnings increased 18 percent to P884 million due to a 19-percent jump in revenues from P2.81 billion to P3.33 billion.

As of end-June this year, the company’s total consolidated assets stood at P65.2 billion as against total liabilities of P25.61 billion.

Tan said the company launched 17 subdivision projects in and outside Metro Manila with an estimated value of about P12 billion. These included new areas in Ilocos, Davao and Cebu. Among the other areas it intends to penetrate include Nueva Ecija, La Union, Bicol, Batangas, Quezon, Bataan and Pampanga.

Vista Land, which has sold over 250,000 homes in its 35 years in the business, has set a capital expenditure program of P45 billion from 2011 to 2013.

The aggressive expansion is mainly driven by the continued strength of the overseas Filipino workers market, which currently contributes around 60 percent of Vista Land’s reservation sales.

Vista Land is also fasttracking the development of four of its major masterplanned projects – Evia in the Alabang-Las Piñas area; Lakefront in Sucat, Paranaque; Sta. Elena in Sta. Rosa, Laguna; and Crosswinds in Tagaytay.

As of end-June this year, Vista Land had a landbank of 1,698 hectares, of which 1,372 are company-owned while the rest are joint ventures.