Vista Land earnings up 10% in 9 months

MANILA, Philippines — Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., the listed property developer of the Villar Group, posted a double-digit jump in profit in the nine months ending September, driven by strong demand for its residential projects outside Metro Manila.

Vista Land delivered a net income of P9.1 billion from January to September, up 10 percent year-on-year, as revenues expanded by seven percent to P29.1 billion.

Real estate revenue accounted for P13.6 billion of the group’s top line, a 12 percent increase year-on-year, while rental income reached P12.4 billion.

The company continued to expand its portfolio, with P32.6 billion worth of new projects launched nationwide during the nine-month period.

“Our performance so far reflects our commitment to our set strategy of asset maximization and optimization as we capitalized on the strong demand from residential projects specifically outside Metro Manila where we have the widest coverage,” Vista Land chairman Manuel Villar Jr. said.

With Vista Land’s presence in 147 cities and municipalities across the country, Villar said the group is now reaping the fruits of its various Vista Estate projects across the country.

He said that these projects are among the drivers in the sustained growth of the company’s reservation sales, which amounted to P58.4 billion as of end-September.

“We remain optimistic with the industry especially in the provincial areas where demand continue to rise,” Villar said.

In line with its commitment to driving growth and expansion, capital expenditures for the three quarters totaled P21.2 billion, 70 percent of which was allocated to project construction, 28 percent to land development and two percent to land acquisition.

Vista Land president Manuel Paolo Villar said that the company is reinforcing its position in both the residential and commercial sectors.

Aside from residential business sustaining its growth with real estate revenues rising by 12 percent for the period, he said the group has also seen steady increase in its 1.6 million square meters gross floor area of commercial portfolio which includes 42 malls, 59 commercial centers and seven office buildings.

“The steady growth comes as foot traffic returns to pre pandemic levels and we anticipate that we will see more in the coming holiday season,” he said.

In terms of the company’s liability management activities, the Vista Land president said the group has successfully refinanced its upcoming $350 million maturity last August with the issuance of a new dollar notes due 2029.

“Proceeds were used to pay the $350 million dollar notes in October thus removing the significant refinancing risk from our balance sheet.We are done with the 2029 dollar notes issuance what we will be looking at next year is a liability management exercise for our dollar notes maturing in 2027” he said.

With the strong performance of the company’s residential business, Vista Land’s board approved cash dividends set to be paid at P0.1120 per share to stockholders on record as of Nov. 28, 2024.

The dividends will be distributed on Dec. 12, 2024.

The company plans to resume to its dividend policy of 20 percent of prior year’s net income next year as the residential business sustained its growth for 2024.

Vista Land boasts of the largest and most geographically diverse property portfolio in the country, covering 147 cities and municipalities across 49 provinces.