Vertical developments to drive VLL growth – Villar
2023 earnings up 39%
Richest Filipino Manuel B. Villar Jr.’s Vista Land & Lifescapes, Inc., one of the country’s leading integrated property developers and the largest homebuilder, is banking on its vertical developments for growth in 2024 after the segment fueled a 39 percent jump in net income to ₱10.3 billion last year.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said vertical developments comprised a majority of the 34 projects with an estimated project value of about ₱50.7 billion it launched as of the end of 2023.
“Our 2023 results showed our optimism in the real estate industry. We have launched over ₱50.0 billion worth of projects across the country. These launches were key to our reservation sales reaching about ₱72.0 billion,” said Villar, founder and chairman of Vista Land.
He noted that, “We are on our way with our maximization of resources strategy as the majority of our launches were vertical developments across the country and we will continue to do so in 2024.”
In 2023, Vista Land’s consolidated revenue rose 19 percent to ₱35.2 billion. Real estate revenue saw a robust 19 percent growth to ₱15.2 billion, while rental income for the year totaled ₱16.0 billion.
Gross profit grew to ₱9.1 billion, and EBITDA climbed by 21 percent to ₱20.6 billion. Vista Land demonstrated significant improvement in its residential gross profit margin, achieving a gain of over 320 basis points to reach 60 percent.
“Our developmental segment showed improvement with 19 percent real estate revenue growth, after negative growth since 2020,” said Vista Land President and CEO Manuel Paolo A. Villar.
He added that, “We will continue to pursue our residential segment now with the launch of more vertical, as well as higher-end products. This has been part of our overall strategy of asset optimization. We also continued with our master planned developments through Vista Estates, now at 26, across the country.”
“Our leasing business, on the other hand, sustained its growth as we ended 2023 with a total gross floor area of 1.6 million sqm or over 100 investment properties consisting of 42 malls, 56 commercial buildings, and 7 office buildings,” the CEO said.
Vista Land maintains a solid financial position geared to support the Company through market fluctuations and capitalize on emerging opportunities in the real estate sector.
The Company ended the year with total assets amounting to ₱342.4 billion, a 6 percent
increase from end-2022 figure, while equity reached P132.9 billion. Vista Land remained prudent, with net-debt-to-equity ratio at 84 percent by year-end.
For 2023, the Company spent P27.1 billion on capital expenditures, a majority of which were for construction and land development. Land acquisition remains muted as the Company intends to utilize its existing land bank.
Vista Land will continue to maximize its resources, particularly land assets, through Vista Estate developments nationwide and increased involvement in upscale projects such as Brittany and Crown Asia initiatives.
The Company said it plans to prioritize mixed-use developments that combine vertical and commercial elements in both its ongoing and planned projects.