(The Philippine Star) | Updated November 10,
2014 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Mass housing leader 8990 Holdings Inc. booked
a 74-percent increase in earnings for the third quarter, equivalent to P1.02
billion in net income compared to P589 million for the same period last year,
on the back of a sustained 60-percent gross and a 45-percent net margin for the
past three quarters. 8990 is traded in
the PSE under the ticker name: House.
In their 3rd quarter briefing, 8890
Holdings president and CEO Januario Jesus Atencio said their 74-percent income
growth is a result of both the present bullish economic environment and the
preparations they started early this year that enabled them to continuously
capture a bigger portion of the affordable housing market.
“Externally, we believe that our
consistent GNP growth, OFW remittances and the growth in the BPO/call center/IT
sectors have meant bigger disposable incomes for the middle and lower levels of
our social pyramid that ultimately provides the basis for increased home sales
amidst the 4 million backlog in affordable housing,” he explained.
Atencio added: “Internally, we’ve
anticipated this, so we worked hard to open up five new projects this year with
two more scheduled to start before the year ends. At the same time, we increased our annual
production capacity by 35 percent to 10,560 units, or an additional 2,500 units
from 8,000 units from last year”.
A significant contributor to increased
performance this quarter is the growing acceptance of Deca Home’s innovative
in-house financing program called CTS-Gold that continues to provide working
class Filipinos easy access to owning their first primary asset. Customer demographics for 8990 indicate that
66 percent of their buyers are young (23-to 39-year old), college educated,
gainfully employed, earning a monthly salary of at least P30,000, generally
optimistic about their future and aspiring to move up from being renters into
primary home asset owners.
Atencio reported that, out of the
5,867 housing units that have already been delivered to homeowners this year,
their projects in Cebu and Davao accounted for 54 percent or 3,161 units. Luzon projects in Angeles and Cavite
accounted for 35 percent with 2,064 units, while Iloilo contributed 642 units
or 11 percent of total delivery. He added that 87 percent of revenue this
quarter was derived from their housing subdivision projects, while 13 percent
came from their medium-rise building (MRB) project in Mandaue City, Cebu.
________________________________________________________
