EARNINGS: Vista Land nine-month net income up by 44%

Sen. Manuel Villar-owned Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc. said Wednesday that its net income in the January-September period rose year-on-year by 44 percent to P2.6 billion on the back of the sales of its real estate projects. The property developer said that its sales in the first three quarter rose year-on-year by 29 percent to P15.1 billion. "Our sales of real estate projects for the third quarter [alone] hit a record of P5.17 billion, reinforcing the general consensus that consumer confidence remains strong," Ricardo Tan, Vista Land senior vice president for finance, said in a briefing Wednesday. Vista Land also reported that its revenues in the first nine months went up by 15 percent to P8.2 billion compared with P7.1 billion recorded a year earlier. At the start of the year, the property firm projected that its core net income would reach P2.8 billion, with its sales reaching P20 billion. Tan said sales take up will likely continue to increase in the last quarter of the year as the company is expected to launch 6 projects before 2010 ends. "We should comfortably exceed our sales target for the year by just repeating our third quarter performance," he said. During the first nine months of the year, Vista Land launched P19 billion worth of 30 projects in various parts of the Philippines. Vista Land operates five business units with the brands of Brittany, Crown Asia, Camella Homes, Communities Philippines Inc., and Vista Land Residences. For 2011, Vista Land remains bullish about the property sector as it expects to post record net income and revenues. "We remain optimistic about the outlook for the property sector in general and are confident that we will continue to be a dominant force in the affordable housing market where demand has been stable," Tan said. Last September, Vista Land raised $100 million from issuance of five-year unsecured bond issue that enabled the company to diversify its sources of funding. -- JE/OMG, GMANews.TV