Ayala Land sets aside P100-B capex for 2024

AYALA Land Inc. (ALI), the property development arm of conglomerate Ayala Corp., has allocated a capital expenditure (capex) of P100 billion for this year — the highest since 2020 — as it embarks on a multi-year plan to double its business by 2028.

This year’s capex budget is 15.6 percent higher than last year’s actual spending of P86.5 billion, although somewhat lower than the P109 billion spent in 2019.

In a recent briefing, ALI Chief Finance Officer Augusto Bengzon said that 34 percent of this year’s capex would go to the residential business, 24 percent to estate development, 19 percent to land acquisition, 10 percent to malls, 8 percent to offices, and 5 percent to hotels and resorts.

Known for designing large-scale, mixed-use estates, ALI plans to launch property developments worth a total of P115 billion this year — P100 billion for residential and P15 billion for commercial and industrial development.

Some 80 percent of the planned launches will be premium properties, while the rest will be for the middleincome market, said Anna Ma. Margarita Dy, company president and chief executive officer.

“We continue to plan. We intend to have projects in push-button mode so that, if there should be opportunities, we will be very quick in being able to capture market changes,” she added.

Dy said the premium market was more robust and that ALI intended to keep its lead in this segment.

In the medium term, however, “we need the core to grow. That’s really where most Filipinos are, and that’s a segment in which we will continue to participate in a big way as soon as market conditions improve.”

By 2028, ALI plans to grow its mall business to a gross leasable area (GLA) of 800,000 square meters (sq m) and its office segment GLA by 500,000 sq m while also increasing the number of its hotel rooms to 4,000.

The residential business is expected to account for 60 percent of revenues by that time, while the remaining 40 percent will come from the leasing segment.

ALI posted a 2023 net income of P24.5 billion, up 32 percent year-onyear, while its consolidated revenues rose 18 percent to P148.9 billion.

The company’s shares rose by 1.66 percent to P35.55 each on Wednesday, while the Philippine Stock Exchange index also finished up by 0.62 percent.