Ayala Land net income jumps 18% in 2nd quarter

SALES from Ayala Land, Inc.’s top three residential brands drove its earnings 18% higher for the second quarter of 2017.

The property arm of the Ayala group said it delivered a net income attributable to the parent of P5.95 billion in the April to June period, following an 18% increase in revenues to P32.8 billion.

This brings ALI’s first half results to P11.5 billion, 18% up from the P9.7 billion realized in the same period a year ago.

The company’s consolidated revenues rose 18% to P64.5 billion during the January to June period, driven by sales from Ayala Land Premier (ALP), Alveo Land, and Avida Land. The three brands contributed the bulk of the P46-billion revenues from the residential component.

“ALP was P10 billion, Alveo was P13 billion, and Avida was around P10 billion,” Augusto Cesar D. Bengzon, ALI’s chief financial officer, said in a press briefing in Makati City on Monday.

In terms of first-half reservation sales, the company booked P61.4 billion, 11% up year on year. Alveo Land accounted for 40% of reservations at P26.1 billion, followed by ALP at P17.3 billion, and Avida Land at P11.9 billion.

The positive performance is attributed to the pipeline of launches from the three brands. This year, ALI launched the 200-hectare Evo City estate in Kawit, Cavite, Ayala Malls Vertis North and Seda Vertis North in its P65-billion estate in Quezon City, as well as ALP’s Cerilo in Nuvali, Laguna.

“Our sustainable estates serve as platforms for growth as we expand to new geographies across the country. Our latest estate, Evo City in Kawit, Cavite, was well-received by the market when we introduced its first residential project in May,” ALI President and Chief Executive Officer Bernard Vincent O. Dy was quoted as saying in a statement.

With this, projects launched for the first half reached around P31 billion, below the company’s P100-billion target in launches for the year.

“So you can see an acceleration for the last two quarters of the year. Roughly we need P35 billion (in project launches) for each quarter,” Mr. Bengzon said.

The company has slated to launch two more projects in the second half, namely the Azuela Cove in Davao and Parklinks along C-5 in Quezon City and Pasig City.

“What we do is we create estates, primarily business districts. We’re focusing first on the office workers, to basically meet the demand that’s coming from them,” Mr. Dy said during the briefing.

ALI has so far spent P41.6 billion in capital expenditures as of the end of June, 48% of which was allocated for residential projects, while 33% was for commercial leasing projects. The remaining 12% went to land acquisitions, new businesses and other investments, and 7% for the development of its estates.

Shares in ALI lost five centavos or 0.12% to close at P41.85 each at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday.

Ayala Land, Inc. is developing the Cerilo, an 85-hectare residential community in Nuvali, Laguna, under the Ayala Land Premier brand.