By Denise A. Valdez, Reporter
PROFITS of Cebu Landmasters, Inc. (CLI) slid 4% in the first quarter as its operating expenses outpaced the growth of its revenues.
In a regulatory filing Monday, the listed property developer said its net income attributable to the parent company stood at P572.23 million in the three-month period, down from P598.54 million in the same period last year.
Consolidated revenues improved 13% to P2.11 billion, lifted by growth across its various business segments and new contributions from its hotel segment, which opened in September 2019.
Real estate sales contributed P2.06 billion, higher by 11% due to increased sales in its properties in Cebu, Bacolod and Cagayan De Oro. But consolidated reservation sales dropped 27% to P2.82 billion due to the delay in launching new projects in the first quarter.
Commercial leasing added P16.6 million in revenues, up 13% from a year ago. This was attributed to CLI’s larger gross leasable area totaling 14,302 square meters (sq. m.) from last year’s 10,110 sq. m. The company finished the quarter with an occupancy rate of 87%.
Property management fees jumped 85% to P10.24 million after CLI completed and turned over two projects in 2019. Hotel operations opened a new revenue stream which contributed P20.69 million during the period.
However, the growth in its topline was dragged by higher costs and expenses. Cost of sales and services rose 27% to P1 billion due to construction work in new and existing projects and costs from hotel operations. Operating expenses grew 37% to P264.83 million due to an increase in salaries and employee benefits.
The company said it plans to take on 2020 with the launch of 14 new projects worth P19.4 billion. “We expect demand for quality housing and residential units to rise prompted by the greater desire for safer and better planned living environments in the aftermath of COVID 19 (coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic),” CLI Chairman and CEO Jose R. Soberano III said in a statement.
“Over the years, CLI has built a reputation for offering great value to its buyers and is ideally positioned to serve this rising demand,” he added.
In an online investors’ briefing yesterday, CLI Chief Finance Officer Beauregard Grant L. Cheng noted the company has already showed recovery in terms of reservations sales in April and May, which stood at P2.02 billion for the two months against P1.39 billion in the whole of second quarter last year.
“Despite the challenging environment, we were still able to generate P2 billion worth of reservation sales in April and May this year… [W]e already outpaced that of quarter 2 last year. This is a testament to how our business model has been able to adapt,” he said.
CLI is focusing on economic vertical and horizontal housing this year, especially in the Visayas and Mindanao regions where recovery is expected to unfold faster.
Mr. Soberano said CLI is setting its performance guidance for 2020 at plus or minus 10% for both its topline and bottomline.
“As we are quick to adapt to this new normal and catch-up to 100% site operations, we are aiming to achieve a full-year guidance that will closely match 2019 levels,” he said.
Shares in CLI at the stock exchange increased two centavos or 0.54% to P3.71 each on Monday.
