Vista Land bullish on growth

MANILA, Philippines - Top homebuilder Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. said it is confident of delivering profit growth of at least 20 percent this year on the back of strong sales.

“I’m optimistic that we will comfortably meet our targets for the year — P16 billion in revenues and P4.2 billion in profit,” Vista Land chief executive officer Manuel Paolo A. Villar told reporters following ceremonies marking the company’s fifth anniversary as a listed company yesterday.

Villar said the company has witnessed steady growth in its residential projects and sees this trend continuing due to increasing population and income.

With the property market showing no signs of slowing down, Vista Land is aggressively expanding its geographic footprint to reach new areas and provide affordable housing to every Filipino.

In the first quarter, Vista Land reported a 22-percent growth in net income to P1.06 billion, driven by the robust performance of its Camella brand, which caters to the middle-income segment.

“Our second quarter has also been good,” Villar said.

Villar said he is proud of what Vista Land has achieved during the past five years, as revenues rose 62 percent to P13.5 billion in 2011 from only P8 billion in 2007.

“We have built more houses — over 250,000 - than any other property developer in the country, and have the widest geographic presence — in 27 provinces 57 cities and municipalities — and counting — in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao,” he pointed out.

For this year, Vista Land is rolling out 32 new residential subdivision projects across the country, with an estimated total project value of P32 billion. This is significantly higher than the 23 projects launched in 2011 with an estimated value of about P21 billion.

Vista Land was recently named one of the best managed companies in the Philippines by FinanceAsia, one of Asia’s leading financial publications.

It ranked among the top five in the “Best Mid-Cap” category and among the top 

Vista Land’s chief financial Officer Ricardo B. Tan Jr. likewise bagged the best CFO award.