FILINVEST Land, Inc. (FLI) grew its earnings by 9% in 2017, fueled by the expansion of its rental business alongside demand for both retail and office spaces.
In a statement issued Wednesday, FLI said it generated a net income of P5.83 billion last year, as revenues reached P20.27 billion. The company’s 2016 financial report showed revenues stood at P19.5 billion.

“The company attributed the revenue increase to a major expansion of its rental property portfolio and the continued strong demand for its retail and office spaces,” FLI said.

The Gotianun-led firm booked P4.42 billion in rental revenues, up 30% year-on-year, after opening new office and retail buildings. In 2017, the company turned over Vector Three in Northgate Cyberzone Alabang, which added 36,000 square meters (sq.m.) of office space to FLI’s portfolio.

This brought the company’s GLA to 348,000 sq.m. across 22 office buildings by the end of 2017.

Cebu Cyberzone Tower Two in Lahug, Cebu City and Cyberzone Mimosa Building 1 in Clark, Pampanga, which will both be turned over soon, will add another 36,000 sq.m. to the company’s GLA.

FLI has nine more office buildings in the pipeline, including Axis One and Axis Two in Northgate Cyberzone, Cyberzone Bay City A and D in Pasay, Cyberzone Mimosa Building 2 in Clark, One Filinvest in Ortigas, Activa and Studio 7 in Quezon City, and 100 West in Makati.

Once completed, the buildings will add 263,000 sq.m. of GLA to FLI’s office network.

FLI also benefited from beefing up its retail spaces last year, where it added 50,000 sq.m. of GLA with the opening of Main Square Community Mall in Bacoor, Cavite, and Fora Mall in Tagaytay. The two projects brought the company’s total retail GLA to 239,000 sq.m. by the end of 2017.

This year, the company targets to open Il Corso in Cebu and the shopping mall segment of Marina Town in Dumaguete. Together, the two malls will add 41,000 sq.m. of leasable retail spaces.

For the residential business, FLI managed to launch P14.6 billion worth of projects in 2017, higher than the P11.9-billion projects it unveiled the year prior. More than 70% of these projects are house-and-lots and mid-rise buildings in order to serve the affordable and middle income markets.

The company plans to top 2017’s launches, lining up P16 billion worth of residential projects this year.

On the other hand, FLI’s mixed-use Makati project called 100 West is set to open its office spaces and lifestyle mall by the fourth quarter of 2018. Residential units in the estate are on track to be completed in 2019.

“We are looking forward to the company’s accelerated growth in 2018 as our new office buildings and shopping malls become operational and generate incremental rental revenues. We also expect residential revenues to remain stable,” FLI President and Chief Executive Officer Josephine Gotianun-Yap said in a statement.

Source: BusinessWorld