Posted on
July 10, 2013 10:33:14 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
By Cliff
Harvey C. Venzon, Reporter
EMPIRE EAST
Land Holdings Inc., a unit of Megaworld Corp., plans to spend P25 billion in
the next five years for more projects and land bank expansion, an official said
yesterday.
The five-year
spending program, which starts this year, will be funded through internally
generated cash and equity from its parent firm, company President Anthony
Charlemagne C. Yu told reporters during the company’s stockholders’ meeting in
Quezon City. Megaworld last month infused P1.26-billion in fresh capital into
Empire East as part of tycoon Andrew L. Tan’s efforts to consolidate his real
estate assets under Megaworld. Mr. Tan is the chairman of Megaworld.
For this year
alone, the company has set aside up to P4.5 billion for construction expenses,
Mr. Yu said.
“As part of
our 2013 strategy, we are looking to launch new real estate concepts and expand
our territory in the South [Luzon] as a way to stimulate the market and gain an
edge over our competitors,” he said.
Meanwhile,
Mr. Yu said Empire East is also looking at acquiring land assets in North
Luzon.
“The past few
negotiations and conclusions were all in Metro Manila and one ongoing
negotiations in the South and we are open to looking at North [Luzon] now,” he
said, adding that the looming opening of Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway
this year opens a “lot of opportunities for the company.”
“From 2012 to
May this year, we were able to secure new tracts of land, which include
properties located in Quezon City, San Juan, Parañaque and Las Piñas,” Mr. Yu
said.
The company
ended the previous year with 450 hectares of land bank, he said.
TALKS WITH
OKADA GROUP
Meanwhile,
Mr. Yu said Empire East is still in “ongoing discussions” with the group of
Japanese tycoon Kazuo Okada for a residential project at the Bagong Nayong
Pilipino Entertainment City in Parañaque City near Manila Bay.
Okada Group’s
Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment, Inc. has one of the four licensees to
operate at the Entertainment City.
Empire East
and Tiger Resort last year forged a P45-billion joint venture agreement which
called for the development of a luxury residential resort condominium project
in Okada’s Manila Bay Resorts, an integrated casino complex.
Aside from
Empire East, Okada Group also negotiated with Robinsons Land Corp. for
residential, commercial and casino operations projects at the integrated gaming
complex. Talks, however, collapsed in May due to undisclosed reasons.
Asked if
Empire East would be willing to takeover the casino operations of Manila Bay
Resorts, Mr. Yu said: “We are not into gaming. That’s not our core competence.
Its very clear that we are not entering into any gaming venture.”
The official
went on to note that the company is optimistic of topping its financial
performance last year.
“We think we
can beat the performance last year, with very high rate of sales,” Mr. Yu said.
The company’s
net income grew by 26.45% to P235.35 million last year from P186.12 million the
year before as real estate sales rose by 40.40% to P1.38 billion from P983.53
million.
For this
year, the company has so far booked a net profit of P50.33 million in the first
quarter, almost double from P27.75 million in the same period last year.
The company’s
first-quarter real estate revenues went up by 20.08% to P557.09 million this
year from P463.95 million last year.
Shares of
Empire East dropped three centavos or 3.13% to P0.93 apiece yesterday.
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