PROPERTY developer Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. (Vista Land) said its net income grew 13 percent to P8.1 billion, from last year’s P7.18 billion, on higher sales of its business units.
Vista Land’s leasing business that grew 60 percent to P4.67 billion, from the previous P2.93 billion, came mostly from its subsidiary Starmalls Inc., which now accounts for a fifth of the company’s consolidated net income.
Total revenues hit a record P30.99 billion. Real- estate sales still account for the lion’s share of total revenues at P25.02 billion, while the rest came from leasing income.
Reservation sales were recorded at P57 billion, 2 percent higher than last year.
“Our acquisition of Starmalls in November 2015 was opportune as our 2016 performance was driven primarily by our leasing business, which registered robust growth in revenue, Ebitda [earnings before interest, depreciation and appreciation], and net income. Our residential segment was affected by the slower demand from the overseas Filipino workers’ market, specifically from the Middle East. But we believe the slowdown was confidence driven and will be temporary,” said Manuel Paolo A. Villar, Vista Land president and CEO.
“We are confident in the company’s prospects for 2017, especially on the leasing side, which provides a significant source of recurring income in addition to our core and stable end-user business,” he said.
Villar said the company has allocated capital expenditures of P35 billion for this year, 13 percent higher than last year’s P30.9 billion. Of this year’s capex, P9 billion will be for Starmalls, 25 percent higher than the previous year’s P7.2 billion.
“We have a solid pipeline for our commercial-asset rollout, which we target to reach 1.3 million square meters in gross floor area [GFA] by end-2018, from our GFA of 882,009 square meters at the end of 2016. In addition, we have identified about 100 areas or over 600 hectares of land from our existing developments around the country with ready population-catchment areas for potential commercial projects,” Villar said.
Vista Land has an established presence in about 100 cities and municipalities across 37 provinces, and intends to focus on the development of its current communities into mixed-use complexes and building facilities, such as shopping malls, hotels and restaurants.