Strong sales in low-end segments lift Vista Land's net income

MANILA, Philippines - Property company Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. announced that its core net income in 2008 rose by nearly half as sales from the affordable and low-end market segments picked up. Core net income jumped 42 percent to P2.123 billion, said Vista Land, the holding company of four business units Brittany, Crown Asia, Camella Homes and Communities Philippines. Revenue from real estate sales reached P10.436 billion in 2008, an increase of 27 percent to P10.436 billion. “In spite of a very challenging market environment, we were able to meet our full-year core net income target," Ricardo Tan Jr., Vista land senior vice president for finance, said. “The company focused on the affordable and low-end market segments, resulting in particularly strong growth from Camella Homes and Communities Philippines." Vista Land has allotted P7.743 billion for capital expenditures this year, lower by seven percent from last year's P8.331 billion. The company had originally planned to spend about P10 billion but trimmed down its appetite for land acquisition, hence, the lower capex. “There's a probability that we will trim it down or even ramp it up this year, depending on the condition and the demand," said Manuel Paolo Villar, Vista Land chief finance officer. Since 60 percent of the company's sales last year were from overseas Filipino workers, this year will remain challenging for Vista Land, Tan said. The government is projecting a flat growth for OFW remittances this year owing to the global financial crisis. “No surprises here. 2009 will be another challenging year. We were prudent last year and we'll be prudent again this year," Tan said. Villar added that for the first quarter of the year, there was slow sales take up. “We launched 32 new projects in 2008 – valued at about P25 billion," said Tan. “We will continue to launch more projects this year, but we are being quite conservative given the generally guarded market sentiments," Tan said. Vista Land will be launching 28 projects this year which are expected to generate about P23 billion in revenues. Villar also cited that the company is looking to borrow “over P1-billion loan" via fixed-rate notes. The company may also extend its share buyback program which is set to expire next month. It has allotted $25 million for the buyback but the company has only spent less than half of the amount. Vista Land has bought 320 million shares from the market at an average price of P2 each. Vista Land currently owns 1,858 hectares, 1,481 hectares of which are company-owned and 377 hectares through joint ventures. Of its total land bank, 78 percent are located in Mega Manila and the rest in provincial areas. Vista Land has also temporarily shelved its plans to foray into developing projects for the business process outsourcing industry and the high-end segment of residential projects, “which have been affected by the crisis". On Thursday, Vista Land's shares rose 2.0833 percent to P0.98. - GMANews.TV