Posted on April 10, 2011 10:16:59 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
ROCKWELL LAND Corp., the Lopez group’s property arm for the high-end market, expects to post fresh record highs for both revenues and profits this year amid robust market demand, an official said on Friday.
Revenues are targeted to grow by a fifth to P6 billion while net income should rise by 12.5% to reach almost P1 billion this year, Valerie L. Soliven, vice-president for marketing and sales of Rockwell Land, told BusinessWorld in an interview.
“For this year we are expecting 20% growth in revenues driven by One Rockwell plus [recognized revenues from] The Grove and Edades,” Ms. Soliven said.
“Plus the mall is doing well,” she added.
“For net income, we are projecting close to P900 million,” Ms. Soliven said.
Last year, Ms. Soliven said the property firm posted a record P4.8 billion in revenues and about P800 million in net income.
This keeps the company on track to achieving its five-year plan of tripling profits to around P2 billion by 2015.
The performance targets will be supported by new projects.
The property developer will launch the final two high-rise residential towers in Pasig City to serve the increasing demand and will also work on acquiring more land for its projects, she said.
The company’s latest project, the Edades in Rockwell Center in Makati, has sold about 480 of the total 550 units open for selling.
“It is ahead of targets. We hoped to sell it out at the end of the year but I think we will be done by next month,” Ms. Soliven said.
Units will be delivered to buyers in December 2014.
The Edades will also have 115 serviced apartments, marking the company’s first foray into the business.
“We want recurring income and that will be the only piece of property we own outside of the malls,” Ms. Soliven said.
Serviced apartments, which will cater to corporate accounts, will be priced at P6,000-P7,000 per night, 20% lower than five-star hotels.
For the 5.5-hectare, P10-billion The Grove on C-5 Road in Pasig, Rockwell Land has so far launched four residential towers.
The Grove will have six high-rise condominium buildings with a total of 2,000 units.
The 26-storey Towers A and B are already close to 90% sold out while units in the 36-storey Towers C and D are 25% sold.
“We are getting ready to launch Towers E and F in the next couple of months,” Ms. Soliven said, adding that units will be sold at more than P100,000 per square meter.
Furthermore, the company is aggressively looking for new properties to develop as the Rockwell Center and The Grove will soon be fully occupied.
“If we find a property that is suitable for mixed-use with office component, we will do that,” she said.
The property developer operates the 1.3-hectare Rockwell Business Center in Ortigas Center.
Locators in the two towers include network antivirus and Internet content security software and service firm Trend Micro, Inc., United States pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Co., and outsourcing firms People Support Philippines, Inc. and Indra Sistemas, SA of Spain.
Rockwell Land Corp., which was set up in 1995 after the shutdown of the thermal power plant of the Lopez group, is 51% owned by the Manila Electric Co. and 49% by Lopez-led First Philippine Holdings Corp.
The flagship project Rockwell Center is a self-contained, mixed-use community consisting of seven high-rise residential towers, three office buildings, a shopping mall, and a graduate school. -- Neil Jerome C. Morales
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