Stock News 2012: Vista Land's Q1 income up 22% to P1.06 billion

Villar-led homebuilder Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. said its first quarter net income grew 22 percent this year to P1.06 billion, fueled by pent-up demand in the residential market.

In a briefing yesterday, Vista Land chief financial officer Ricardo B. Tan Jr. said sales activity remained brisk with the continued low interest rates and steady remittance inflows from Filipinos working overseas.

Revenues rose 23 percent to P4.02 billion as reservation sales surged 52 percent to P10.14 billion. Subsidiaries Camella and Communities Philippines, which develop residential communities for the low and affordable segment, accounted for a combined 67 percent of Vista Land’s total revenues.

“The company’s performance for the first quarter was slightly better than expected. We are off to a good start and are on track to achieve our full year targets for 2012, “ Tan said.

Tan earlier said the company was looking to end the year with a 20 percent growth in earnings and revenues to around P4.2 billion and P16 billion, respectively.

“The market has been pretty resilient. While competition has been intensifying from other players, we feel that we have the advantage over them. We know the market better than anyone else,” Tan said.

Manuel Paolo Villar, president and chief executive officer of Vista Land, said the company has not seen any negative effects from the problems besetting Europe as it continued to attract OFWs.

“Camella continues to dominate the housing market nationwide, and as we execute our strategy of aggressively expanding in the provinces, our position as the dominant player in housing will be solidified even further,” Villar added.

The company introduced nine major subdivision projects during the period under review worth around P5 billion, Tan said.

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Stock News 2012: CDC Holdings allots P3.3 B for condo projects

Real estate developer CDC Holdings Inc. is alloting P3.3 billion over the next three years for the development of three condominium complexes, one of which is ready for turnover in the last quarter of this year.

CDC Holdings founder Elsie Chua said the company would continue to develop properties for the middle class market which is composed of overseas Filipino workers and young professionals , young entrepeneurs, and local businessmen.

She said that despite the current boom of real estate development and the steady inflow of OFW remittances, the end-user segment is safe from the formation of a property bubble for the next five years at least.

“I don’t see a bubble so long as you are in the end-user market and not in the investor market in the next five years,” said Chua.

She said the market for real estate developments for the middle class continues to be robust because of the large population and the strong inflow of OFW remittances, which at the moment is at $24 billion annually.

CDC Holdings is also one of the top three developers availing of financing form the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG). In fact, 90 percent of their buyers avail of Pag-IBIG financing.

“My competitors are bankers. We are not competing with them. So we are a developer which is tapping the Pag-IBIG program for the end-user market,” said Chua.

To rise in the last quarter of this year is the Giraffe Tower, the commercial complex of the existing Lions Park Residences in Paranaque. The complex will stand on 1.5 hectares of land and will contain spaces for grocery and meat stores.

“This is where we will encourage OFWs to put up their business,” Chua said. Rivergreen Residences, in Manila is expected to rise in four years.

The mixed residential and development consists of two towers and 580 units and total lease area of 4,000 square meters.

Chua said a “big” supermarket chain has committed to operate the hypermarket in the community. The commercial area expects to earn P24 million annually.

Total gross sales is expected to reach P1.1 billion.

Sentrale, which will rise in 2015, is a condominium-hotel development in Makati. The development, which consists of 380 units, is expected to fetch P850 million in sales.

Next year, CDC Holdings is also opening new offices in Dubai, Israel and Germany where OFWs “ earn higher than average.” Marketing efforts in these countries will solely be taken by the company and not through partnerships with foreign firms.

This year, the company targets to reap in P2 billion in sales, P500 million of which is expected to be generated overseas and P1.5 billion domestically. Chua said the company currently enjoys a unit turnover of 80 percent.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?publicationSubCategoryId=66&articleId=806335

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Stock News 2012: Robinsons Land retains high rating

Robinsons Galleria, Robinsons' Flagship Mall. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Robinsons Land Corp. retained its highest rating of PRS Aaa from local credit rating agency PhilRatings for its outstanding P10 billion bonds maturing in 2014.

Obligations rated PRS Aaa are of the highest quality with minimal credit risk. The obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligations is extremely strong.

RLC, the property arm of Gokongwei listed flagship firm JG Summit Holdings Inc., is engaged in the development and operation of shopping malls and hotels, and the development of mixed-use properties, office and residential buildings, as well as land and residential housing projects located in key cities and urban areas nationwide.

“Considering current market developments and conditions both globally and locally, RLC is now investing more in malls, office buildings and hotels, while taking a more conservative stance in relation to the development of residential real estate projects. This move signifies that RLC is expected to have a more stable and strong recurring rental and lease revenue base from investment properties while at the same time, pursuing opportunities through its residential development businesses,” PhilRatings said.

Sustained robust OFW remittances, the increase in consumer spending, as well as an expanding BPO business are expected to boost demand for residential space going forward and will continue to support growth in the commercial centers business, PhilRatings said.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=766072&publicationSubCategoryId=66

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Stock News 2010: CitisecOnline income reaches P79.2M in Q3

Image by barnoid via Flickr

MANILA, Philippines—Leading online stockbroker CitisecOnline.com Inc. grew its third-quarter consolidated net profit by 10.9 percent to P79.2 million as strong Philippine operations made up for sluggish output from its overseas unit in Hong Kong.

This brought COL’s nine-month net profit to P188.8 million, down by 5.4 percent from a year ago, weighed down by the overseas operations.

“We are very pleased with the results of our Philippine operations. Initiatives to grow the business by educating, equipping and empowering the Filipino retail investors are clearly paying off as evidenced by the significant growth in the number of our customer accounts and the size of their equity. It is even more encouraging that the bulk of our new customers are first-time investors in the stock market,” COL president Conrado Bate said.

http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20101111-302716/CitisecOnline-income-reaches-P792M-in-Q3