Rockwell Land posts 17% profit growth in Q1

MANILA, Philippines - Higher interest income allowed upscale property developer Rockwell Land Corp. to post double-digit profit growth in the first quarter.

The Lopez family’s property arm said its earnings jumped more than 17 percent to P254.2 million from P216 million in the same period last year. Consolidated revenues inched up four percent to P1.42 billion from P1.36 billion. 

“The residential development generated P1.17 billion, contributing 82 percent of the total revenues for the period. Bulk of the revenues came from the sale of condominium units, including accretion from interest income,” Rockwell Land said.

Sales of condominium units slipped six percent to P851 million from P906 million “primarily due to lower construction completion of Edades and 205 Santolan, which were substantially completed in 2013 and are already for handover in 2014,” Rockwell Land said.

Commercial leasing revenues rose three percent to P250.7 million from P244.3 million. Its retail operations include retail leasing, interest income and other mall revenues.

Interest income surged 59 percent to P276 million from P173 million “mainly due to higher interest income accretion arising from Proscenium and The Grove Phases 2 and 3 projects,” the company said.

In the first quarter, Rockwell Land said it spent P1.3 billion for project and capital expenditures, up three percent from P1.2 billion last year.

“The expenditures consist mostly of development costs of The Grove Phases 2 & 3, Proscenium, Lopez Tower and 53 Benitez projects,” Rockwell Land said.

The upscale property developer is spending P19.2 billion until 2019 to complete its residential, office and retail space developments.

Rockwell was created in 1995 after the shutdown of the thermal power plant of the Lopez Group. The former power plant complex is now a self-contained, mixed-use community with residential towers, office buildings, a shopping mall, and a graduate school.