[ manilastandardtoday.com ] May 2-3, 2009
Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc., the property unit of the family of Senator Manuel Villar, said its board has agreed to extend the buyback of the company’s shares to boost shareholder value.
Vista Land said in a disclosure to the stock exchange that the company would extend the buyback program until Nov. 16 with purchases pegged at $25 million.
The company had bought back a total of 320 million shares valued at P619 million as of end- April this year.
“The other details of the buyback, including the timing and volume of share purchases, were left to the discretion of the management,” Vista Land said.
Shares of Vista Land were listed in the stock exchange for P6.85 a share in July. The price has since dropped to a 52-week low of P0.67 per share. Vista Land on Thursday edged at P1.06 per share, up from Wednesday’s close of P1.02.
The company attributed the underperformance of the company’s share price to the global financial crisis and misconceptions about its subsidiary, C&P Homes.
Vista Land conducted road- shows to apprise new investors about the operations of the company.
Vista Land earlier reported a 42 percent increase in core net income in 2008 to P3 billion from P2.12 billion in 2007 on strong sales of housing units catering to middle and low-income segments.
Revenues from real estate sales grew 27 percent in 2008 to P10.4 billion from P8.2 billion a year earlier, 70 percent of which came from sales of affordable units.
Sales of Camella Homes soared 110 percent last year while those of Communities Philippines jumped 59 percent.
Sales of high-end residential units being offered by Brittany and Crown Asia, meanwhile, fell sharply because of the impact of the global financial crisis. Sales of Brittany dropped 33 percent in 2008 while those of Crown Asia fell 13 percent.
The company plans to spend P7.7 billion, slightly lower than P8.3 billion in 2008.
Vista Land plans to finance the capital expenditures from internal funds and borrowings.
The company is launching 28 projects this year, mostly affordable housing units that will generate as much as P23 billion in revenues. Jenniffer B. Austria
__________________________________________________________________________________
