BY RUELLE ALBERT D. CASTRO
[ Malaya.com.ph ] May 24, 2010
Lucio Tan-led Eton Properties Philippines Inc. over-the-weekend said net income for the first three months this year reached P185 million, a 10-fold increase from the P18 million recorded a year ago.
Total revenues reached P974 million, nearly a three-fold increase from the P352 million in 2009. Total assets grew by 344 percent to P11.7 billion from P3.4 billion.
The company is currently active in the construction of residential projects The Eton Residences Greenbelt, Eton Baypark Manila, One Archers Place, South Lake Village at Eton City, The Manors at North Belton Communities, Eton Parkview Greenbelt, Belton Place and the Eton Emerald Lofts, allowing the company to recognize revenue from partial completions.
Leasing income came from the company’s newly-opened commercial centers and office projects which include Centris Station and Cyberpod Centris in Quezon City and Cyberpod Corinthian in Ortigas.
"We have reasons to be bullish in 2010. Growth will be driven by the strong results of the real estate business, boosted by the country’s successful first automated national elections. The company’s total reservation sales from January to April this year posted a 98 percent increase for the same period last year," said Danilo Ignacio, Eton Properties president.
"Our reservation sales from the start of the year have been very strong with March 2010 sales being the highest in Eton’s history. We didn’t see any wait-and-see attitude on the part of our buyers and investors prior to the election. With the relatively peaceful elections over, we foresee that this boom will continue and strong numbers will keep pouring in. Just recently, we launched Eton Tower Makati, our fourth Makati residential condominium with a SOHO (small office home office) component and sales take up has been very strong due to the strong investment potential of the project. It is so far our fastest-selling high rise project", he added.
Ignacio also noted the strong leasing take-up of its commercial and office projects, with the first four BPO buildings already fully leased out.
"We have a happy problem of several BPO tenants vying for the same space compared to just several months ago when demand was slow. The outsourcing industry sees increased growth prospects in 2010 and these results in increased demand for office space. Right now we are already in the planning stage for the second BPO office in Eton Centris," Ignacio added.
Ignacio also said that based on the financial results for the first quarter, Eton ’s net income for 2010 is expected to hit P700 million which will be more than double the 2009 net income of P294 million.
The company earlier announced the launch of 10 new projects for 2010, two of which were launched early in the year.
_____________________________________________________________
