By Arra B. Francia, Reporter

CEBU Landmasters, Inc. (CLI) is aiming to grow earnings by as much as 42% in 2018, to be driven by robust sales and the completion of ongoing projects in the Visayas and Mindanao region.

The Cebu-based real estate developer set a net income target of P1.7 billion next year, against the P1.2 billion profit it expects to book by end-2017. For 2018, revenues are seen to grow by 67% to P2.77 billion, with real estate sales accounting for 99%.

“It’s robust sales performance of the company, completion of ongoing projects, and we are about to start construction of our newer launches as well… These are all realizable. We need to construct as we plan. The sales are there,” CLI Chief Operating Officer Jose Franco B. Soberano said during an analysts’ briefing in Makati City on Tuesday.

Mr. Soberano said CLI is taking advantage of the strong market in the Visayas and Mindanao region, noting the company currently has 46 developments in seven key cities.

“There’s no saturation to speak of. It’s us taking advantage of our roots and deep connections in this period,” he added.

The company is also banking on strong sales of projects to be launched in 2018. CLI has 20 new projects to be rolled out next year, increasing its project portfolio to 66 from 46.

Mr. Soberano said the project pipeline includes the development of a business hub in Davao City, where a 22-hectare golf course will be transformed into the city’s first central business district.

Currently, CLI has a total of 17,187 units spread out across 46 developments in various stages of construction, valued at P44.76 billion. Of this, 45% are residential condominiums, 22% are residential subdivisions, 22% are office or retail projects, and the remaining 11% are in the hospitality sector.

BOND OFFERING
To support its 2018 targets, CLI will be registering P10 billion in retail bonds under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s shelf registration program. CLI plans to issue the first tranche of the bond offering worth P3 billion by April 2018.

The following tranches, split between P2 billion and P5 billion, will be issued depending on the timing of CLI’s project requirements in the next three years.

This will be CLI’s maiden bond issue following its initial public offering (IPO) last June, where it raised around P2 billion to finance projects.

“Doing the bond will help us conserve our ability to loan from the bank, because now financing would come from the retail investment market… We feel that doing the bond, fresh from the IPO, will not be as challenging because we just came from the market. The recall is still there in the financial market,” CLI Chief Finance Officer Stephen A. Tan told reporters after the briefing.

These bonds will most likely have a tenor of five to 10 years, Mr. Tan said.

Proceeds of the bonds will be used to partially finance the projects lined up for 2018.

For the first nine months of 2017, CLI booked a net income of P960 million, 77% higher than the same period last year. This follows a 67% surge in revenues to P2.77 billion for the period.

The company is aiming to hit a net income of P3 billion by 2020, on the back of P10 billion in revenues for the period.

Shares in CLI lost two centavos or 0.43% to close at P4.66 at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

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