Posted on 08:42 PM, November 09, 2010 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
BETTER performance across all business units allowed property giant Ayala Land, Inc. to hike profits by more than a third to P1.42 billion in the third quarter.
It was the sixth straight quarter of earnings growth for the property arm of the Ayala group.
The latest quarter’s jump allowed the real estate firm to post a 35% increase in net income to P3.94 billion in the nine months that ended in September.
Moving forward, the company expects to sustain the growth momentum in the fourth quarter.
“Consolidated revenues for the first nine months reached P27.87 billion, 24% higher year on year,” the company said in a statement yesterday. Real estate and hotel revenues rose by a quarter to P26.22 billion amid growth in major business lines.
Consolidated net operating income grew by 26% to P7.96 billion in the nine-month period.
It was attributed to “significant improvements in the company’s residential and corporate business margins being offset by a drop in shopping center margins due to the ongoing redevelopment of Ayala Center in Makati.”
Residential segment revenues grew by 18% to P12.47 billion in the nine-month period amid a growth in bookings for all residential brands, the firm said.
Ayala Land operates under four major brands -- Ayala Land Premier for the high-end segment, Alveo Land for the middle-income segment, Avida for the “affordable” market, and Amaia for economic housing.
The residential brands launched 8,396 units in January to September, almost double the average of 4,500 per year.
Revenues from shopping centers rose by 6% to P3.52 billion in the nine-month period as gross leasable area grew with the opening of MarQuee Mall in Pampanga and the improved occupancy rate at Greenbelt 5 in Makati, the firm said.
In the office space business, revenues increased to P1.49 billion from P1.33 billion in the same period last year as occupancy by business process outsourcing firms jumped to 71% from 53% last year.
Meanwhile, the high-end residential unit of Ayala Land has launched the second tower of its Park Terraces project in Makati.
The first tower was launched in January, generating P4.3 billion in sales or about 90% of total units in a single weekend.
Units in the 60-storey Point Tower will be zoned for the convenience of buyers. All one-bedroom units will be located at the fifth to 33rd floors, two-bedroom units at the 34th to 47th floors, and three-bedroom and penthouse units at the 48th to 59th floors.
The three-tower Park Terraces is part of the P20-billion Ayala Center redevelopment, which includes 54,000 square meters of new retail space, 655 news hotel rooms, 13 storeys of new office space, and a four-hectare garden.
Construction of the P4-billion Point Tower will start next year and will be completed in 2016, Melissa B. Gil, head of Ayala Land Premier’s residential buildings group, said in a briefing.
Ayala Land said that in pre-selling a few weeks ago it had disposed of P1.8 billion or about a third of the total number of units.
Ayala Land Premier is selling one-bedroom units starting at P10 million, two-bedroom starting at P18 million, three-bedroom starting at P30 million, and the 500-square-meter (sq. m.) penthouse units at P90 million each. Most of the 388 units will be 65-sq. m. one-bedroom units.
The firm will launch the third tower of Park Terraces next year.
Shares in Ayala Land fell by 0.92% or P0.16 to P17.18 each yesterday. -- Neil Jerome C. Morales
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