RLC posts 13% profit hike to P2B in October-March

MANILA, Philippines - Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC), the property development arm of Gokongwei investment firm JG Summit Holdings Inc., reported a 13 percent growth in net income for the first half of its fiscal year ending September 2011 on the back of strong residential sales and leasing income from office buildings.

In a briefing following the company’s annual stockholders meeting late Wednesday, RLC president and chief operating officer Frederick D. Go said net earnings amounted to P2.04 billion for the period October 2010 to March 2011 on revenues of P6.26 billion, which was an increase of 13 percent.

The mall business continued to account for the big chunk of RLC’s total revenues, amounting to P3.03 billion or an increase of nine percent.

Revenues from residential development expanded 21 percent to P1.07 billion while office operations pumped in P643 million.

The hotels division, on the other hand, contributed P625 million, up eight percent year on year.

Go said the continued strength of OFW remittances, sustained growth of the BPO business and demand for residential space, will further fuel growth in the real estate sector. To capitalize on these, the company will aggressively beef up its landbank with focus on properties that are suitable for large-scale, mixed-use development.

RLC expects to launch at least P8 billion worth of residential projects for this fiscal year alone, across its four brand segments.

For shopping malls, the company is set to complete the redevelopment of Robinsons Galleria and its third largest mall, Metroeast, as well as the expansion of malls in Tacloban and Bacolod. In fiscal year 2012, it will open malls in Pangasinan, Palawan and Magnolia along New Manila – all three expected to add a total of 12 perent in gross leasable area.

With office vacancy in major business districts in Metro Manila declining to single digits in the fourth quarter of 2010, RLC is building two new office buildings – Cyberscape 1 and 2, which will provide an additional 80,000 square meters of gross leasable area. 

For hotels, the group is building a total of 30 budget hotels under the Go Hotels brand over the next five years, either through company-owned hotels or through franchising.