MINERVA BC NEWMAN
CEBU CITY – Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI), a leading developer in the Visayas and Mindanao area reported some P8.30 billion in consolidated revenues in 2020 that closely matched the 2019 P8.50B revenues.
CLI chairman and CEO Jose Soberano III said that the revenues grew by 18 percent from the third quarter’s Ph2.20B to P2.59B in the fourth quarter after its 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, the company ended FY2020 with a P1.85B parent NIAT, only an eight percent decline compared to its 2019 figures which the company has attributed to its market-leading VisMin advantage and sustained demand across its residential product line.
“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 buckled the pessimistic trend by beating its 2019 reservations sales performance with record P14.25 billion of new sales in 2020 versus P12.67 billion in 2019, a 12 percent rise.
The company’s economic housing brand Casa Mira accounted for 69 percent of 2020 sales; its mid-market Garden Series, 19 percent; and high-end Premier Masters, 10 percent. Strong sales take-up also resulted in unrealized revenue of P20.4 billion.
Soberano added that there is a real estate boom and a global trend towards safer and healthier homes. With CLI’s agility, it took advantage of this new kind of demand. CLI ended the year with an additional 4,300 homes added to its inventory spread over nine projects worth P11.4 billion with newly launched projects were 71 percent sold by the end of 2020.
Other revenue contributors included the leasing income business which accounted for P55.2 million while maintaining a healthy occupancy rate of 79 peprpcent. Citadines Cebu City, CLI’s first hotel project posted P54.6 million in room rentals with an average occupancy of almost 50 percent for the year.
Soberano described 2021 as the year of “rebound and abound”, and the company is expected to resume its growth trajectory, targeting 15 to 20 percent upside. CLI has a total of 25 projects in the pipeline; 15 of these are P19 billion residential developments to be launched in 2021, supplying over 7,500 units to the sustainable housing market.
A total of P12 billion will be spent for capital expenditure in 2021 to expand the firm’s landbank and complete its on-going development including Latitude Corporate Center which is expected to increase total GLA to more than 28,000 sqm, almost double from 2020, he bared.
CLI announced a cash dividend of P0.25 per share to shareholders on record as of April 16, 2021, to be paid out on May 10, 2021 in recognition of the firm’s stellar performance in 2020.
Since its listing in June 2017, CLI has declared a total of Php 0.85 per share in cash dividends It also declared a 123 percent stock dividend to strengthen the capital base of the firm that now has more than P50 billion in total assets. This is to prepare it for significant equity raising opportunities.
Cebu Landmasters has the largest market share at 12 percent among real estate firms providing vertical and horizontal projects in Visayas Mindanao, according to a real estate market study by Santos Knight Frank as of 3Q 2020.
