Ayala Land to further expand land inventory

for the bulk of the company’s landbanking cost last year.

Ysmael said ALI was keen on further expanding its land inventory, expecting to end the year with 6,900 hectares, up from 5,400 hectares as of the end of 2012.

“We’ll continue acquiring new and replenishing (our stock),” he said.

ALI boosted its sixmonth net profit by 30 percent year-onyear to P5.62 billion as the company unlocked higher earnings from property development, commercial leasing and construction businesses.

Asked whether ALI could sustain this growth trend, Ysmael said: “the environment remains favorable, the economy remains driven by infrastructure spending and consumption story remains very strong,” he said.

“(Product) launches will also accelerate in the second half and that should provide the fresh inventory that will feed our sales force,” he said.

ALI’s four residential brands launched a total of 10,130 units in the first six months of the year, worth P30.64 billion.

As an indicator of future earnings growth from its residential business, ALI’s sales take-up value for the first six months reached P43.79 billion, equivalent to an average monthly sales take-up of P7.3 billion, an all-time high.

Apart from growing its resi- dential portfolio, expanding the office property segment is part of the company’s growth strategy. The goal is to triple the office portfolio in the next five years, catering mostly to the business process outsourcing (BPO) market. About 279,000 square meters of additional BPO office will be in various stages of completion during the year, Ysmael said.