Published on Wednesday, 05 December 2012
23:00
Written by ALBERT CASTRO [ Malaya.com.ph ]
Vista Land
and Lifescape, Inc. (Vista Land) will soon add Baguio City to its list of
project sites.
The company
set to unveil its maiden project in the summer capital by early next year.
Manuel Paolo
Villar, Vista Land president and chief executive officer, declined to give
details of the project but said Baguio is a candidate site for a similar
Crosswind-type tourism-estate project of Vista Land, which is gaining attention
in Tagaytay City in Cavite.
Company
founder and Villar patriarch, Sen. Manuel Villar said a second tourism-estate
by the company may be up for groundbreaking by the end of 2013 after the
success of its pioneering 100-hectare Tagaytay
Crosswinds, a Swiss-inspired township project boasting of its own swath of pine
trees planted by the company since its inception in the mid-1990s.
“But it could
also be in another area,” the younger Villar said.
Vista Land
has continuously expanded its reach in the Philippines, opening projects in
various cities and provinces in the country. As of end September, Vista Land
has projects in 60 cities and 28 provinces in the country.
In the first
nine months of the year, Vista Land launched 22 new projects with an estimated
value of P20 billion, 12 of them outside Mega Manila, and five of them located
in new areas. Capital expenditures for the year are expected to reach P15.2
billion.
The younger
Villar earlier said Vista continues to look for new land to acquire to increase
its 1,932.1-hectare landbank, located mostly in Mega Manila --- Metro Manila
and Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Batangas and Bulacan. Mega Manila comprises 78
percent of the total landbank.
Villar said
Vista Land is eyeing areas with a minimum size of 30 hectares, suitable for large
mixed-use development. It is also interested in privatization of
government-owned lands.
Villar said
Vista Land would rather buy a large tract of land in one go.
Vista Land
remains optimistic of the prospects of the property marketas a result of the
continuously improving economic environment, as well as its position in the
end-user market.
The elder
Villar said Vista Land enjoys the position of “choice provider” for the
end-user market.
“I expect
interest rates to remain low. Demand is steady especially in the end-user
market where we are,” Villar said.
Villar also
said these give them confidence to open up more projects in new areas all over
the Philippines --- four in Northern Luzon, three in Bulacan, two in the Rizal
province, three in Visayas and five in Mindanao.
In the first
nine months of the year, Vista Land posted a profit of P3.23 billion, up from
P2.61 billion last year.
Consolidated
revenues reached P12.15 billion, up 23 percent from P9.9 billion a year ago.
Vista Land
realized a sales worth P30.1 billion for the period, 39 percent higher than
last year’s P21.6 billion. The company targets P40 billion in sales for the
year.
The younger
Villar expressed confidence of exceeding earnings guidance for the year.
“Based on our
stock market performance, it seems investors believe so as well,” said Villar.
“In spite of
continued market uncertainties in Europe, the strategies we have adopted will
allow us to meet our full year sales and revenue targets,” Villar added.
Ricardo B.
Tan, Jr., Vista Land chief financial officer, said they are “averaging P10
billion in sales every quarter” which makes them confident of hitting the
target.
“Most of our
sales have been coming from our flagship Camella brand, both in Metro Manila
and in the provincial areas. We fully expect to see continued strong sales performance
in the coming years as demand for house and lots, particularly in the mid- to
low- end segment of the market, continues to be extremely robust. We launched
subdivisions in five new areas for the first nine months, including two in
Ilocos Sur, Bohol, Palawan, and Batangas,” he added.
Of Vista
Land’s revenues for the period, a third was contributed by its mid-market brand
Camella and another third by the marketing unit Communities Philippines. The
brand Britanny contributed 15 percent, CrownAsia 13 percent, and Vista
Residences 5 percent.
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