Ayala Land 9-mo profits jump 27% to P6.6-B

MANILA, Philippines – Strong real estate sales and better margins hiked Ayala Land Inc.’s net income in the first 9 months of 2012 by 27% to P6.62 billion from a year ago’s P5.23 billion.

In a statement on Wednesday, November 7, the listed real estate firm said its revenues for the January-to-September period reached P39.01 billion, or 20% more.

“Average monthly sales take-up remains very robust and margin improvement is steady for all business lines,” said Ayala Land Chief Finance Officer Jaime E. Ysmael in the statement.

“We’ve spent 94% of our programmed capital expenditures for projects this year and we are looking forward to upcoming launches before the yearend. By all indications, 2012 is looking like another good year for Ayala Land,” he added.

Below are summaries of the performance of each units during the 9-month period:

Real Estate and Hotels

• Revenues increased by 20% to P36.89 billion. 
• Net income margin improved to 20% for the period, from 18% last year.
• Property Development (sale of residential units, and commercial and industrial lots)\
• Total revenues increased 27% to P23.91 billion

Residential Segment

• Revenues hit P22.32 billion, up 27% due to strong sales and continued construction of projects across all residential brands. Ayala Land Premier revenues grew 10% to P8.07 billion due to the strong sales of Elaro lots in NUVALI and Anvaya lots in Bataan. 
• Alveo’s revenues reached P5.20 billion led by first towers of The Maridien in Bonifacio Global City, Solinea in Cebu and phase one of Kasa Luntian in Tagaytay City. 
• Avida and Amaia revenues grew 65% and 109% to P6.10 billion and P1.01 billion, respectively, with booking contributions from new projects such as Avida Towers Centera, Avida Towers 34th Street, Avida Parkway Settings NUVALI and Bacolod as well as new projects launched in Cavite, Lipa, Novaliches, Cubao, Sta. Mesa and Avenida. Sales take-up value for the first nine months of the year reached P57.85 billion, equivalent to an average monthly sales take-up of P6.43 billion. This was 49% higher than the P4.31 billion average monthly sales take-up achieved for the same period last year. 
• The 4 residential brands launched a total of 13,057 units.

Commercial and industrial properties

• Revenues from sale of lots reached P1.59 billion, up 26% due to the sale of 18 commercial lots in NUVALI, and 7 commercial lots in Bonifacio Global City . 
• Revenues from Shopping Centers rose by 19% to P4.18 billion, marked by higher lease rates and increase in occupied space with the opening of Harbor point in Subic. 
• Average building lease rate was up 5% to P1,086 per square meter due to negotiated and programmed rental escalations. 
• Occupied gross leasable area (GLA) was up 10% to 1.1 million square meters. 
• Same-store sales grew 10%, with building and land leases increasing by 5% and 14%, respectively, buoyed by the strong retail environment. 
• Revenues from Office leasing operations increased by 19% to P2.17 billion due to higher lease rates and bigger area occupied by business process outsourcing (BPO) office spaces, which increased by 16% year-on-year. Total occupied BPO GLA expanded to 346,000 square meters with an average lease-out rate of 86%. Average BPO lease rates increased by 3% due to the combined effect of new leases and rental escalations in existing buildings. 

Hotel and Resorts

• Revenues from 634 branded hotel rooms between Hotel InterContinental Manila and Cebu City Marriott, and 150 island resort rooms in Lagen, Miniloc and Apulit Island (formerly Club Noah) in Palawan province, improved by 11% to P1.81 billion largely due to better revenue per available room (REVPAR).
• Occupancy rates of the two hotels and 3 resorts were higher by 7 percentage points and 2 percentage points, respectively. 
• Hotel REVPAR improved by 10% to P3,711, while the resorts portfolio posted a 41% REVPAR increase to P5,214. 

Property Services

• Revenues, which include Construction and Property Management businesses, generated combined revenues of P14.64 billion, 40% higher.
• Gross construction revenues grew by 42% to P13.69 billion due more construction work from affiliate firms. 
• Property Management revenues improved by 12% to P950 million from additional management contracts. 

– Rappler.com