DoubleDragon adjusts growth targets to 2022

MANILA, Philippines — DoubleDragon, the joint venture property firm of Edgar “Injap” Sia II and Tony Tan Caktiong, has adjusted its growth targets on the back of the challenges brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 pandemic.

It now plans to complete a leasable portfolio of 1.2 million square meters by 2022, pushed back from the original 2020 target.

This comprised 700,000 square meters from 100 CityMalls or its provincial retail malls, 300,000 sqm from its Metro Manila office projects DD Meridian Park and Jollibee Tower, 100,000 sqm from the 5,000 hotel rooms of Hotel101 and Jinjiang Inn Philippines, and another 100,000 sqm of industrial space from various CentralHub sites across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

The company reported a net income of P10.65 billion last year, up 43.53 percent on the back of a 30 percent growth in recurring revenue to P3.95 billion, primarily due to rental revenue which grew 31.02 percent to P3.27 billion.

Hotel revenue grew 25.9 percent to P672.06 million.

“The most important aspect is having a relevant and resilient business model in the company’s portfolio, and we are glad that DoubleDragon’s portfolio had the opportunity to be tested.

The size of the company’s real estate portfolio and the revenues it used to generate will not matter much if the changes of customer behavior from this unprecedented global pandemic will make the real estate portfolio irrelevant going forward.

Our team will continue to make sure that its portfolio will always be geared to capture the bright future of our economy, “ Sia said.

At present, DoubleDragon has a portfolio of 803,735 sqm of leasable space which is equivalent to 80.3 percent of its 2020 target during its  initial public offering in 2014.

Its retail community malls nationwide maintain 93.4 percent occupancy with some CityMall tenants focused on basic essentials hitting double-digit same store sales growth in 2019.

DoubleDragon completed three new office towers in 2019 which include Jollibee Tower in Ortigas Central Business District and DoubleDragon Center East and West which form the second phase of DD Meridian Park in the Bay Area. Its six completed office towers in DD Meridian Park is now 98.9 percent leased out.

The company has secured a total of seven new Hotel101 projects in addition to the operational Hotel101 Manila, bringing its total new project inventory to P20.22 billion of which P3.22 billion has already been sold.