Rockwell Land sizzles in market debut

MANILA, Philippines - Rockwell Land Corp., the upscale property development firm of the Lopez family, sizzled on its trading debut on the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, popping by as much as 427 percent.

Rockwell listed 6.23 billion common shares by way of introduction as a result of a property dividend declaration by Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) of its 51 percent stake in the property firm. Its stock reached a peak of P7.71 prior to closing at P4.90 each share or more than double its initial listing price of P1.46 per share.

A total of 8.191 million shares valued at P44.4 million changed hands yesterday.

As a result of the property dividend, Rockwell now has 48,269 shareholders.

Rockwell president Nestor Padilla said the company is looking to breach the P1 billion mark in terms of net income this year. Revenues are forecast to grow to P7.4 billion, an increase of 20 percent from the year before.

Ambassador Manuel M. Lopez, chairman of Rockwell, said the company will continue to pursue opportunities for growth, which includes the possible diversification into the mid-market segment and the provincial economy.

“Over 17 years, Rockwell has carefully built its brand, faithfully delivering on its commitments and innovatively creating a lifestyle that upwardly mobile and overseas Filipinos aspire for,” Lopez said.

“We deliberately pursued opportunities for growth and laid the groundwork for future expansion, choosing quality over quantity. To this strategy, it owes its unmatched reputation for reliability, customer service and value-for-money,” he added.

Lopez said that while the company is looking to stick with the high-end segment of the market, they are also considering the possibility of branching out into Cebu and Davao as future sites for expansion.

“I think Cebu and Davao would be an ideal place to promote tourism,” Lopez said.

To ensure sustained profitability, Rockwell has lined up several projects this year which include The Grove, a 5.4-hectare residential development in Pasig targeted towards the upper middle market. The first two towers are slated for turnover this year.

Sales take-up has been robust with Towers A&B at 95 percent and Towers C,D,E and F already at 36 percent.

Another ongoing project is The Edades Tower and Garden Villas, a 50-story development in Rockwell Center with six floors of serviced apartments, slated for completion within the first half of 2014.

With the aim of broadening its revenue stream, the company recently diversified into townhouse development with 205 Santolan, which makes available a total of 105 units with sizes ranging from 260 to 400 square meters ready for turnover by next year.

In addition, Rockwell also launched the 20-story Lopez tower and Museum which will rise in the Block 9 area of the Rockwell Center. The building will be the new headquarters of the Lopez Group and a new home to all the art and literature collections of the group. Development will start by the middle of this year and is expected to be completed in three years.

The company is also set to launch The Proscenium, located on a 3.6 hectare prime lot on the north east side of Rockwell Center to be interior designed by world-renowned Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott. This will expand the firm’s flagship development with an additional five residential towers to be completed with 15,000 square meters of retail, 10,000 sqm of office, and first-of-its-kind 700-seater performing arts theater.

Rockwell earned P915 million last year, up 14 percent from P801 million a year earlier on the back of a 26 percent jump in revenues to P6.2 billion. Revenue growth was driven by residential sales due to higher booking and construction completion in 2011 from ongoing projects.