Vista Land profit rises 10.15% to P694 million in first quarter

MANILA, Philippines - Villar-owned property holding firmVista Land & Lifescapes Inc. said its core net income rose 10.15 percent in the first quarter this year on robust sales amid a buoyant real estate market.

In a press briefing yesterday, Vista Land vice-president for finance Ricardo B. Tan Jr. said core net earnings amounted to P694 million from P630 million a year earlier while revenues went up nine percent to P2.68 billion as sales take-up jumped 50 percent to P5.05 billion.

Given the strong take-up of its projects, the company said it is on track to meet its sales target of P20 billion this year, mainly coming from its projects under the Camella brand, which caters to the affordable and low-end segments of the market.

“The steep rise in our real time sales reflects the return of consumer confidence. In addition, our marketing campaign for Camella has been very successful. The property sector has shown clear signs of improvement since the latter part of 2009 and we expect this will continue to gain momentum for the rest of this year,” Tan said.

From P2.3 billion last year, the company’s core income is forecast to increase although it would be below P3 billion. In 2009, Vista Land posted a net profit of P2.3 billion, 18 percent lower than the previous year.

As of end-March this year, Vista Land had cash of P2.52 billion and total assets worth P55.13 billion. Interest-bearing loans, on other hand, stood at P945 million while consolidated liabilities reached P19.05 billion.

Tan said the company has so far launched nine projects this year valued at P5 billion. Of these projects, four are in low and affordable segments, two in middle-high end and two are condominium projects in Quezon City.

Capital spending will reach P10.2 billion this year, of which P1.7 billion has already been used up by the company.

“We remain confident about the outlook for the industry, and for our company in particular. Although many developers are attempting to tap the OFW market and compete in the more affordable housing market where demand has been stable, we believe Vista Land has a strong competitive advantage given the track record and popularity of our Camella brand,” Tan said.

Vista Land is the holding company of five business units: Brittany, Crown Asia, Camella Homes, Communities Philippines and Vista Residences.