Ayala Land earnings up 30% in Q1

Ayala Land, Inc.' s (ALI) net income rose 30 percent year-on-year to P2.76 billion in the first quarter of the year due to strong residential sales and improved office and retail occupancy rates, the company said Wednesday. In a statement, the property developer said that consolidated revenues for the period reached P18.53 billion, 38 percent more than the P13.39 billion in the same period last year. “Our commercial spaces continue to achieve very good lease and occupancy rates, particularly in the BPOs [business process outsourcing sector],” said ALI chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael. For the first three months of the year, property development, which includes the sale of residential, commercial and industrial lots, saw a 56-percent growth in revenues to P12.11 billion. Residential sales were up 17 percent to P8.01 billion as reservation sales improved 33 percent to P19.2 billion. Commercial and industrial sale revenues surged by 348 percent to P4.1 billion, driven by the sale of lots in the old Food Terminal Inc., now Arca South. Revenues from the hotels and resorts segment were up 86 percent to P1.21 billion as new establishments were opened, while shopping center revenues rose 7 percent to P2.44 billion. — BM, GMA News