By Neil Jerome Morales (The Philippine
Star) | Updated May 10, 2014 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Newly-listed
DoubleDragon Properties Corp. of Mang Inasal founder Edgar “Injap” Sia II and
Jollibee Foods owner Tony Tan Caktiong more than doubled its profits in the
first quarter on the back of strong real estate sales.
The property firm is expecting almost
P350 million in earnings this year with the start of the operations of various
commercial centers, its top official said yesterday.
In a disclosure, DoubleDragon said net
income surged 117 percent to P21.2 million in the first three months of the
year from P9.8 million a year ago while consolidated revenues surged 142
percent to P172.5 million from P71.3 million year-on-year.
Specifically, revenue from real estate
sales, which accounted for majority of the consolidated revenues, jumped 139
percent to P170.7 million from P71.3 million due to the strong performance of
the property development business.
The property firm has two ongoing
vertical residential projects with commercial components in Iloilo. Its first
foray in Metro Manila is the 30-storey W.H. Taft Residences just beside De La
Salle University.
“The company sees to exceed P340
million net profit target this year
2014, and on track with its target of
P1 billion net profit by 2016 and P4.8 billion by 2020,” said DoubleDragon
chairman and CEO Sia.
In 2013, DoubleDragon’s net income
jumped 32 percent to P126.63 million from P92.48 million, almost entirely
coming from residential sales.
“We expect continuous growth to be
driven by current and near-term developments. DoubleDragon’s last offering,
Dragon Shopping Center in Divisoria, is expected to contribute significantly to
the net income target for the year,” he added.
Last week, DoubleDragon acquired a
5,972-square meter (sqm.) lot located in Divisoria, Manila. It will allow the
company to launch Dragon Shopping Center, a new tiangge shopping center concept
that will diversify revenue streams.
DoubleDragon said it is also pursuing
developmental activities connected with its CityMall Community Mall projects
around the country. CityMall
Commercial Centers Inc. is 66-percent
owned by DoubleDragon and 34-percent owned by SM Investments Corp.
The company targets to complete five
malls this year and will start laying groundwork for the next 20 CityMalls to
be opened by 2015, in line with plans to open 100 CityMalls by 2020.
DoubleDragon aims to reach P1 billion
net income level by 2016 and P4.8 billion by 2020. It also targets to hit one
million sqm. of total leasable space portfolio by 2020, of which 700,000 sqm.
is expected to come from the planned 100 CityMall community malls, mostly in
the Visayas and Mindanao.
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