The property arm of the Ayala Group, the country's oldest conglomerate, expects to meet its 20,000-unit target by yearend as it looks to launches from its mid-income brand Avida to meet the balance in the remaining quarter
In the meantime, Ayala Land posted a July-to-September net income of P2.062 billion, up 29.76% from year-ago levels, as consolidated revenues grew by 20.68% to P11.377 billion.
Real estate revenues rose by 22.49% to P10.303 billion, offsetting expenses which rose by roughly a fifth to P8.590 billion.
"Revenue growth is strong and margin improvements are steady. The average monthly sales take-up for residential launches has breached P4 billion and improvements in our commercial leasing operations have been sustained," Jaime E. Ysmael, Ayala Land chief finance officer, said in a press statement.
This brought the property firm's nine-month net income to P5.932 billion, 33% higher from the P4.445 billion recorded in the same period last year.
The company remains positive it will meet its 20,000-unit target by the yearend, as it looks to spend around P13 billion to build more than 10,000 units in the last quarter, on top of the 10,045 residential units launched in the first nine months.
Mid-income brand Avida will drive this expected growth, Mr. Ysmael said.
For next year, Ayala Land is generally optimistic it will continue to grow its residential launches.
"You cannot expect a 50 to 100% increase, but 40% might be possible," Mr. Ysmael said.
Ayala Land shares were up by 1.01% to P15.90 apiece yesterday from P15.74 at its previous close.
Business World Online
10 November 2011
By: Franz Jonathan G. de la Fuente
