Belle income jumps 234% to P731M

Buoyed by the robust sales of club shares and new real estate projects, leisure and gaming firm Belle Corp. posted a net profit of P731 million last year or a 234-percent increase over the P219-million income reported a year earlier.

In a financial report filed with securities regulators, Belle vice-chairman Willy Ocier said revenues reached P1.2 billion, mainly coming from the sale of club shares in Plantation Hills and The Parks at Saratoga Hills.

Saratoga Hills, a residential development at The Greenlands, is being designed around a contemporary American country theme on approximately 11 hectares. Around P800 million has been earmarked for this project.

Ocier said he expects the company to sustain its gains this year, banking on the continued improvement of the peso against the US dollar and strong remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Belle Corp. expects strong revenues from OFWs seeking high quality second or retirement homes in the Philippines.

The company earlier raised P521 million from the sale of two hectares of prime commercial lot located along Roxas Boulevard. The proceeds from the same are intended to pay the company’s debt, which now stands at P2.8 billion.

"The property market in the Philippines is coming into a bullish cycle," said vice chairman Henry Sy, Jr.

Belle Corp. is currently on its fourth year of improving profitability since 2002, and is gearing up for a strong push in the leisure property sector, where its flagship Tagaytay Highlands, is considered a dominant player.

It is targeting the Japanese for its planned retirement homes project in the Greenlands enclave in Tanauan, Batangas.

Belle is also building a new recreational facility called The Sports Barn & Wilderness Lagoons in the Greenlands.

Another project is the 325-hectare Lakelands, located along the shores of Taal Lake, which will be patterned after the Tagaytay Highlands model.