VISTA LAND 2018 EARNINGS JUMP 15%

Real estate giant Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. saw earnings jump by 15 percent in 2018 on the strong growth in its property sales and commercial leasing businesses.

Vista Land, which has long focused on affordable housing, said on Thursday that net income last year hit P10.5 billion, up 16.2 percent from 2017 level.

Total revenue for the year hit P41.5 billion, up 15.1 percent. Real estate sales alone rose 15.4 percent to P31.9 billion while its leasing business posted a 15.2-percent increase in revenue to P6.9 billion.

Vista Land CEO Manuel Paolo Villar said they were aiming to maintain doubledigit earnings growth in 2019.

“We continue with our strategy of expanding our geographic reach which currently is at 146 cities and municipalities across 48 provinces around the country,” he added.

Vista Land launched about P51.7 billion worth of projects in 2018. Villar said the company would launch at least P60 billion worth of projects in 2019 even as capital spending requirements were expected to go down.

The developer, best known for its affordable housing brand Camella, is currently one of the country’s largest landowners. Its land bank spans over 2,800 hectares with about 41 percent of its holdings located outside Metro Manila.

Aside from property sales, it also has been expanding its leasing busi

ness. By the end of 2018, this segment spanned 1.4 million square meters of gross floor area across 31 malls, 52 commercial centers and seven offices.

“We remain optimistic for the industry given the robust demand in our residential business as well as the continued growth of our leasing propelled by the steady growth in Filipinos’ disposable income,” Vista Land chair and founder Manuel Villar Jr. said.

“Overseas Filipino remittances, and the infrastructure development around the country especially in areas outside Metro Manila, where we have a competitive edge given our presence in so many areas of the country,” he added.