Filinvest Land income jumps in 2nd quarter

FILINVEST LAND, Inc. (FLI) chalked up higher earnings in the second quarter as the growing contribution of its rental portfolio offset a dip in real estate sales.

In a regulatory filing, the Gotianun-owned real estate firm reported an 8% increase in attributable net income to P1.21 billion in the April to June period, from P1.12 billion during the same period a year ago.

This pushed its first-half attributable income 7% higher to P2.6 billion.

Total revenues dropped 8% in the second quarter to P4.16 billion, from P4.53 billion a year ago. This was attributed to a 16% decline in real estate sales to P2.8 billion for the April to June period. On the other hand, rental services surged 26% to P1.03 billion during the second quarter.

For the first half, total revenues climbed 9% year on year to P10.06 billion from P9.21 billion.

Sustained take- up levels coupled with the completion of high- rise and mid- rise residential buildings pushed residential revenues by 8% to P7.5 billion during the January to June period from P6.93 billion.

Rental revenues increased by a fourth to P2 billion during the first half from P1.6 billion, buoyed by the opening of new office and retail buildings.

“We are looking forward to the company’s continued growth in 2017 as our new office buildings and retail developments generate incremental revenues,” FLI President and CEO Josephine Gotianun-Yap said.

FLI now operates 21 office buildings totaling 312,000 square meters (sq.m.) of gross leasable area (GLA). Four buildings are expected to be completed this year, adding 110,000 sq.m. of leasable space to its portfolio.

On the retail side, FLI recently unveiled Main Square Community Mall in Bacoor, Cavite and Fora Mall in Tagaytay. These projects added 50,000 sq.m. of GLA to its retail portfolio, bringing the total to 211,000 sq.m.

“Our expansion strategy for retail is to complement our residential, office and township developments with retail components to maximize the value of our projects. FLI is on track to hit its one million square meter target of office and retail GLA by 2019,” Ms. GotianunYap said.

FLI is a subsidiary of Filinvest Development Corp., the holding firm for the Gotianun family’s businesses in banking, hotel, power, and sugar farming and milling.

Shares in FLI rose six centavos or 3.43% to close at P1.81 apiece on Monday. —