Robinsons Land earns P4.48 B

MANILA, Philippines - Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC), the property arm of the Gokongwei family’s JG Summit Holdings Inc., posted an unaudited net income of P4.48 billion in its fiscal year ending September 2013, up by only  5.5 percent from the previous year as residential construction remained sluggish.

Sources said RLC’s revenues rose 18 percent to P15.98 billion from October 2012 to September this year, mainly on the strength of its shopping mall operations.

Operating profit amounted to P5.98 billion, 14 percent higher than the P5.24 billion recorded in the same period last year.

In the fourth quarter alone, RLC’s net earnings fell 2.8 percent to P832 million, while revenues went up 3.3 percent to P3.58 billion.

The shopping centers division chipped in P1.98 billion in revenues or 16 percent more than the P1.71 billion contributed a year ago.

The income drop  was due to lower residential revenues as a result of low project  completion rate and increased loss from the reversal of derivative assets.

Revenues from residential projects fell 13 percent in July to September this year to P868 million, while hotel revenues were flat at P361 million.  The office buildings segment pumped in P367 million in revenues, down two percent due to lack of new inventory.

Pre-sales, however, remained positive with reservation sales  growing nearly 50 percent to P8.62 billion.

Construction of new malls and office buildings has been delayed until next year.  RLC’s  gross leasable area for shopping malls will expand by 18 percent to 1.08 million square meters for its fiscal year endingSeptember 2014.  Office GLA, on the other hand, will grow by 41.5 percent to 273,000 sqm next year.

RLC  is building its first office tower in the Bridgetown Business Park, a  P30 billion mixed-use development in Libis, Quezon City.  The two-hectare property was acquired by the company from Republic Glass Holdings Corp.  The first building will make available 35,000 sqm of GLA which should boost RLC’s office GLA by 13 percent to 308,000 upon completion in 2015.