RECLAMATION PROJECT. Photo shows an artist’s sketch of Cebu Landmasters’ 100-hectare techno business hub soon to rise in Minglanilla town, southern Cebu. The firm said reclamation works for the project will start this year. (Photo courtesy of CLI)
CEBU CITY – Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) is earmarking PHP12 billion in capital expenditure this year to expand its landbank and complete ongoing projects across the Visayas and Mindanao (VisMin) regions.
During the company’s investors’ briefing on Wednesday, chief operating officer Jose Franco Soberano said the listed developer is set to launch 15 residential projects in 2021 with a total of 7,507 units worth PHP19 billion.
He also disclosed the firm will start the reclamation works this year for the 100-hectare techno business hub in Minglanilla town, southern Cebu.
CLI is looking to increase its gross leasable area to 28,000 square meters (sqm) from 14,500 sqm in 2020, with the expected completion of its Latitude Corporate Center, located at Cebu Business Park.
The company reported PHP8.30 billion in consolidated revenues in 2020, closely matching 2019’s PHP8.50 billion resulting from “the immediate deployment of catch-up measures shortly after the relaxation of lockdowns triggered by the pandemic in the first half of 2020.”
Despite lockdowns that restricted construction activities and hampered movement across various sites, it ended the challenging 2020 with a PHP1.85-billion net income, only an 8-percent decline from the 2019 figure.
The company attributed the slight decline in profit to its market-leading advantage in the VisMin regions and sustained demand across its residential projects amid the housing backlog woes.
“We have learned much from this pandemic and look forward to offering safe and healthy homes and communities to address not only the great housing backlog in VisMin but also what families really need,” Soberano said.
CLI bucked the pessimistic trend by beating its 2019 reservations sales performance with record PHP14.25 billion of new sales in 2020, up 12 percent from PHP12.67 billion the previous year.
The strong sales take-up also resulted in unrealized revenue of PHP20.4 billion, the firm said.
Soberano said that despite the pandemic, the real estate boom in the country continues where the company is “able to take advantage of this new kind of demand.”
CLI ended the year with an additional 4,300 housing units added to its inventory spread over nine projects worth PHP11.4 billion.
Newly launched projects were 71 percent sold by the end of 2020.
Other revenue contributors included the leasing income business which accounted for PHP55.2 million while maintaining a healthy occupancy rate of 79 percent.
Citadines Cebu City, CLI’s first hotel project, posted PHP54.6 million in room rentals with an average occupancy of almost 50 percent last year.
The firm’s growing hotel portfolio is expected to reach 1,433 rooms by 2025.
Soberano coined 2021 as the year of “rebound and abound” and the company is expected to resume its growth trajectory, targeting 15-20 percent upside.
“Moreover, we understand that our market prioritizes great values which we will deliver by being more cost efficient, digitally enabled and sensitive to the needs of our stakeholders,” he added.
CLI has the largest market share at 12 percent as of third quarter of 2020 among real estate firms providing vertical and horizontal projects in Visayas and Mindanao, according to a real estate market study by Santos Knight Frank. (PNA)
