Roxas holding firm earns 21% more

MANILA, Philippines - Listed holding firm Roxas & Co. Inc. (RCI) posted higher earnings its fiscal year that ended in September as lower expenses offset the drop in revenues from both the real estate and sugar businesses.

In a regulatory filing, RCI said its net income jumped 21 percent to P258.31 million from P212.8 million a year earlier.

RCI said gross expenses declined 20 percent to P1.17 billion while gross revenues similarly sank 20 percent to P6.17 billion due to lower tonnage from its sugar milling operations in Batangas and Negros province.

Last year, the company implemented a redundancy program that resulted in less losses for the retirement fund, profit sharing and implementation of cost efficiency measure.

Moving forward, the company has prepared performance-enhancing programs for the real estate and sugar operations such as marketing and cost reduction projects.

To ensure the viability of the property group, the company intends to continue the development of ongoing projects Landing Townhomes, Orchards Phase 2 and Anya residential lots.

RCI said it will also “continue and improve the marketing the sales and marketing efforts to sell the existing lot inventories.”

Aside from ongoing projects, it will “explore the market for available and sustainable developments in the Calabarzon and Metro Manila areas.”

Last December, RCI’s real estate arm Roxaco Land Corp. partnered with Singapore-based Vanguard Hotels Pte. Ltd. to put up at least five new Go Hotels branches in the next two years.

Roxaco aims to benefit from the boom in local tourism through Go Hotels, the budget hotel chain of the Gokongwei family.

Roxaco Land is the company behind Fuego Hotels, which manages the 88-hectare premiere luxury seaside resort Club Punta Fuego in Batangas; the Terazzas de Punta Fuego in Nasugbu, Batangas; 7 Stones Boracay Suites and Boracay Gems in Boracay, Aklan; and Camaya Coast in Bataan.