CEBU Landmasters, Inc. (CLI) reported a net income attributable to the parent firm of P1.85 billion, or down by 8%, which the listed real estate developer said was within its profit guidance for 2020.
“[The company immediately deployed] catch-up measures shortly after the relaxation of lockdowns triggered by the pandemic in the first half of 2020,” CLI Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jose R. Soberano III said in a statement on Wednesday.
The company said the single-digit profit decline was due to its “market-leading VisMin (Visayas-Mindanao) advantage and sustained demand [across residential] product line.”
Consolidated revenues for the year amounted to P8.3 billion, inching down by 2.4% from P8.5 billion. Meanwhile, revenues for the fourth quarter went up by 18% to P2.59 billion from P2.2 billion in the previous quarter.
CLI reservation sales went up by 12% in 2020 to P14.25 billion, a record for the company, from P12.67 billion the previous year. It also noted that strong sales take-up led to an unrealized revenue worth P20.4 billion.
“The company’s economic housing brand Casa Mira accounted for 69% of 2020 sales, [while] its mid-market Garden Series [contributed] 19%, and high-end Premier Masters, 10%,” it said.
CLI pointed to its digitization efforts as early as April last year, which the property developer said also boosted its online selling capability.
Real estate sales for the year amounted to P8.15 billion, inching down by 2.9% from P8.39 billion. Revenues from rentals declined by nearly 13% to P55.2 million from P63.15 million the previous year. Revenues from hotel operations surged to P54.6 million from P8.52 million.
The company said its balance sheet breached $1 billion in 2020.
“We are just approaching our fourth year as a listed company, and we are proudly already a $1-billion company in terms of assets due to our progressive construction of residential units and build-up of our recurring income business,” CLI Director and Chief Operating Officer Jose Franco B. Soberano said in an online briefing on Wednesday.
The company currently has 25 projects in the works.
This year, 15 of these will be launched, which are P19-billion residential developments with more than 7,500 units.
CLI also said its gross leasable area is expected to grow by 48% to 28,000 square meters (sq.m.) from 14,000 sq.m. in 2020.
It will allot P12 billion in capital expenditure for project development. The company aims to grow by 15-20% this year.
The CLI director said he was positive about the opportunities in the region this year, saying they “understand very intimately, very strongly” their market in the region.
“No other developer on the market or came out and said that VisMin will be my only focus, but our only focus has become our greatest strength because there is so much opportunity in Visayas and Mindanao,” he said.
On Wednesday, CLI shares at the stock exchange went up by 2.01% or P0.12 to close at P6.10 apiece. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte
