Empire East H1 profit flat at P75M

Empire East Land Holdings Inc., the middle-income housing unit of upscale property firm Megaworld Corp., reported a flat first-half net profit of P74.87 million on lower sales.

In a financial report filed with securities regulators, Empire East said consolidated revenues composed of real estate sales, interest income, commissions and other revenues-fell 9.5 percent to P802.12 million from P886.32 million in the same period in 2007.

Real estate sales coming from California Gardens Square, Xavier Hills, The Cambridge Village and Laguna Bel Air 4, amounted to P319.2 million, down 34 percent from P483.6 million. Interest income, however, rose 20.15 percent to P229.34 million, derived mostly from accounts under in-house financing.

Additional sources of revenue were commissions of a subsidiary, rentals from office-warehouse units in the central business park complex and commercial spaces in various projects, and those obtained from other sources.

Operating expenses increased 30.25 percent from P252.12 million to P328.4 million due to additional expenses in promoting sales, additional manpower employed to support the operations and the general increase in prices of commodities.

As of end-June this year, Empire East had total resources of P24.8 billion as against liabilities of P4.5 billion Equity increased to P16.6 billion from P14.95 billion due to the net effect of income for the six-month period, increase in capital stock and unrealized loss on investment of a subsidiary.

Empire East said it is confident it will perform better in the years to come as demand in housing is expected to grow, considering the affordable prices of properties, the attractive payment scheme and the competitive interest rates of most banks on housing loans. – Zinnia B. Dela Peña