Posted on 08:26 PM, April 27, 2010 [BusinesWorld Online ]
PROFITS OF publicly listed Belle Corp. -- the high-end leisure developer and gaming company led by mall and banking tycoon Henry Sy and businessman Willy N. Ocier -- more than tripled to P122 million in the first quarter due to higher real estate revenues and foreign exchange gains.
Belle is looking at 10% growth in profits for the whole year, expecting higher take-up of the company’s property projects, an executive said yesterday.
“Belle realized income from real estate operations of P147.5 million during the first three months, or an increase of 56% compared with P94.7 million [in the same period last year] due to strong revenue growth,” the company said in a disclosure.
The growth resulted in Belle earning a profit of P121.879 million, up from P38.169 million in the first three months of last year.
“Our revenues increased and we had a foreign exchange gain this year versus a loss last year,” Manuel A. Gana, executive vice-president and chief financial officer of Belle, said in an interview yesterday.
“[A profit growth of] 10% is what we are aiming for,” Mr. Gana added, saying higher revenues as a result of continued demand for its leisure projects and a profitable exchange rate would propel growth in net income.
Belle’s property projects include Alta Mira, Lakeside Fairways, Lakeview Heights, Pinecrest Village, Plantation Hills, Tagaytay Highlands Golf Club, and The Woodlands, in Tagaytay and Batangas.
“Revenues of the company in the near future will be coming from the seventh and eighth phases of Lakeside Fairways and the second phase of Fairfield that the company plans to launch [in] 2010,” the property firm said in its financial report.
Belle recorded an 87% increase in consolidated net income to P385.8 million last year from P205.8 million year on year given foreign exchange gains and higher earnings of affiliates.
In March, Belle was reported to be looking at a partnership with Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc., considered the world’s largest provider of branded casino entertainment.
Harrah’s Entertainment is expected to manage a planned P14-billion casino complex along the reclamation area of Manila Bay in Pasay.
Shares in Belle, which was incorporated in 1973 for oil exploration before starting property development in 1989, rose to P1.92 apiece yesterday from P1.90 on Monday. -- Neil Jerome C. Morales
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