Villar family eyes more residential dev't as key growth driver

To maintain the double-digit profit growth achieved in 2023, the Villar family's Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. plans to intensify residential development by introducing more upscale vertical projects catering to higher-end consumers.

The company disclosed on Tuesday that it registered a net income of P10.3 billion in 2023, a 39 percent increase compared to the previous year as consolidated revenue surged by 18 percent to P35.2 billion.

“Our developmental segment showed improvement with 19 percent real estate revenue growth, after negative growth since 2020.

We will continue to pursue our residential segment now with the launch of more vertical, as well as higher-end products. This has been part of our overall strategy of asset optimization,” Vista Land President and CEO Manuel Paolo A. Villar said.

Based on Vista Land’s financial report, its real estate revenue logged a 19 percent growth to P15.2 billion last year, while rental income reached P16 billion.

Gross profit also improved to P9.1 billion, and EBITDA climbed by 21 percent to P20.6 billion.

Meanwhile, Vista Land Chairman, Manuel B. Villar, Jr., hailed as the Philippine's richest man, reiterated that the company will continue to maximize its resources, particularly land assets, through Vista Estate developments nationwide and increased involvement in upscale projects such as Brittany and Crown Asia initiatives.

Likewise, the company also plans to prioritize mixed-use developments that combine vertical and commercial elements in both its ongoing and planned projects.

“Our 2022 results showed our optimism in the real estate industry. We have launched over P50 billion worth of projects across the country. These launches were key to our reservation sales reaching about P72 billion.

"We are on our way with our maximization of resources strategy as the majority of our launches were vertical developments across the country and we will continue to do so in 2024,” Villar said.

Vista Land launched 34 projects with an estimated value of about P50.7 billion in 2023. It also ended the last year with assets amounting to P342.4 billion, a 6 percent increase from the end-2022 figure. Equity, on the other hand, reached P132.9 billion.

Last year, the company spent P27.1 billion on capital expenditures, which primarily supported project construction and land development. Land acquisition remains muted as the company intends to utilize its existing land bank.