POPI to spend P1 billion for Laguna warehouse

AYALA-LED Prime Orion Philippines, Inc. (POPI) is investing P1 billion to develop a logistics and warehousing facility in Laguna, in a bid to address the demand from small and medium businesses in the area.

In a statement issued Wednesday, POPI said Laguna Technopark, Inc. (LTI) — its joint venture firm with Mitsubishi Corp. — has unveiled a new Standard Factory Building (SFB) in Brgy. Loma, Binan City.

The facility will stand inside the 11-hectare Laguna Technopark. It will house 40 units sized 1,200 to 1,500 square meters (sq.m.) each, for a total leasable area of more than 60,000 sq.m.

“This new SFB aims to accommodate small and medium businesses from both the global and local market, as well as clients with growing warehousing and storage needs,” the company said.

POPI looks to complete the facility by October 2020, but it will be available for lease by May 2019. The company targets non-PEZA locators to lease out the spaces.

The listed firm also noted that this will be LTI’s largest investment so far.

POPI is Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI)’s player in the real estate logistics and industrial space. The company plans to launch two industrial parks by the first half of 2019, banking on the resurgence of manufacturing in the country.

One of the industrial parks in POPI’s pipeline will be located in a property in Cagayan de Oro near the Laguindingan airport. This will offer 42 parcels of land with lot cuts of 7,000 sq.m. each.

The second industrial park will be located in central Luzon, but the company has yet to specify its exact location.

Aside from investments in industrial parks, POPI is also redeveloping Tutuban Center in Manila, as it looks to take advantage of the construction of the government’s North-South Railway Project. Once realized, Tutuban will be at the center of the North Line, South Line, and LRT West rail projects.

With its current rehabilitation, POPI has expanded Tutuban commercial complex’s gross leasable area to 53,000 sq.m., alongside the introduction of new retail and wholesale concepts.

POPI grew its attributable profit by 48% to P97.43 million in the third quarter of 2018, after rental revenues jumped 52% to P216.1 million. Consolidated revenues surged 461% to P1.01 billion.

This brought the company’s nine-month net income attributable to the parent to P189.47 million, 122% higher year-on-year, on the back of a 328% increase in revenues to P1.94 billion.

Shares in POPI dropped 2.67% or nine centavos to close at P2.36 each at the stock exchange on Wednesday. —