Crown Equities turns around with P10-M profit in 1st half

Higher real estate sales and the repayment of debts helped listed holding company Crown Equities Inc. (CEI) turn around its financial position as it posted a net income of P10.12 million in the first six months of the year, compared to the P6.72-million loss incurred in- the same period last year.

CEI is a Filipino-owned publicly-listed investment holding company with special focus on infrastructure, property and healthcare.

In a financial report submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, CEI said it registered P9.7 million in net earnings before interest and taxes as against a negative P28.2 million the previous level.

"The marked improvement is generally because of the absence of heavy finance costs in the current period as bank loans were repaid and the non-incurrence of losses from dacion en pago and sale of properties which were prevalent in 2004,"CEI said.

The full payment of bank loans resulted in the reversal of certain finance charges of the banks. This was recorded as other income together with penalties imposed against Northeast Development for the termination of an agreement with CEI for the purchase of the latter’s investments in Hopewell Crown Equities Inc.

On a per share basis, the company reported a net income of P0.0060 for the first half as against P0.0039 net loss for the same period a year ago.

Net sales grew three-fold to P21.75 million from only P3.07 million. The major source of revenue for the company was sales from the Palma Real project which was launched in May 2004.

The Palma Real project is a joint venture between CEI’s subsidiary Crown Central Properties Corp. and Sta. Lucia Realty and Development Inc. It is a middle-class residential subdivision in a 28-hectare property located in Biñan, Laguna.

Sta. Lucia is the developer of the project, due for completion in 2007.

On the other hand, equity in net earnings from the healthcare subsidiary significantly improved from a loss of P1.86 million to an income of P313,000 in 2005.