Wednesday, April 16, 2008 [ manilatimes.net ]
THE real property arm of the Lucio Tan group told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday that it incurred a net loss last year.
In its disclosure, one-year old Eton Properties Philippines Inc. said its operations incurred losses of P146.75 million at end-December, or 664 percent higher than the level recorded at end-April. “Since the company applies the percentage-of-completion, revenue will only be realized if there has been progress on construction and the stage of completion can be reasonably estimated,” the firm said.
To date, Eton has launched six projects. However, it can only start realizing revenues from condominium unit sales this year.
Investments and other income at end-December grew by 8 percent to P20.7 million year on year due to higher interest income.
Selling expenses soared by 5,690 percent or P104.9 million as it launched five projects within eight months while general and administrative expenses also surged by 585 percent due to higher personnel cost as employees increased. Other operational expenses surged by three digits. The company’s foreign exchange losses also increased by 94 percent due to the peso’s appreciation.
Eton’s assets rose by 165 percent to P980 million in the April to December period due to the P395-million increase in cash and cash equivalents while real estate projects in progress also increased by P133 million. This improvement was mainly due to the “brisk take up” of its two projects, The Eton Residences Greenbelt and Eton Baypark Manila, the firm said in a separate statement.
The company’s receivables also inched up because of advances to affiliates and accrued interest receivables worth P27.7 million.
Earlier, Eton launched its affordable medium-rise condominiums that will be sold to non-US based overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to widen its market reach as the US market, primarily buyers of high-end development, began weakening.
Under its new unit, Belton Communities Inc., Eton will market its affordable housing project, North Belton Communities in Novaliches, Quezon City to OFWs in Hong Kong, Singapore, Italy, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. --Likha C. Cuevas-Miel
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