ALI sees slower spending this year

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala-led property firm Ayala Land Inc. sees lower capital expenditures this year as it rationalizes spending, a ranking company official said yesterday.

From the earlier announced P100-billion capex program, the company said it would likely spend only P80 billion to P90 billion this year.

As of August, the company had spent about P41.1 billion for project construction and land acquisition. 

ALI chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael said the firm wants to keep spending at bay and maintain its land acquisitions at the current level.

“We want to keep our debt at a certain level. This is more on rationalization of spending especially land acquisitions,” Ysmael said.

ALI has so far acquired 8,600 hectares of land, which would be enough to cover 10 to 15 years worth of development.

In Makati, for instance, Ysmael noted that the property developer still has 50 hectares compared to only 1,000 hectares when it started.

For future land acquisitions, Ysmael said the company is looking at areas outside Metro Manila.

“We will continue with it. We have significantly increased our land bank in the last two years. Landbanking will be less intense now compared to what happened in the last two years,” he said.

Ysmael said the company would sustain its growth trajectory in the second half.

In the first half, ALI posted a net income of P8.39 billion, 19 percent higher than the P7.05 billion recorded in the same period a year ago.  Consolidated revenues grew 10 percent to P50.61 billion, driven by the sustained momentum of its real estate businesses.

The company launched P54.85 billion worth of residential projects in the first six months.