8990 Holdings optimistic of hitting P24-B revenues

8990 HOLDINGS, Inc. expects to hit a top line of P24 billion this year, its top official said on Monday, citing the listed developer’s property portfolio as the main driver.

“We are hopeful that we can really target P24 billion [in revenues] for the rest of the year,” said 8990 President and Chief Executive Officer Anthony Vincent Sotto in a media briefing.

Mr. Sotto added that revenues for the year would be mainly driven by the company’s properties in Metro Manila, which would mainly be contributed by its Ortigas and Manila projects.

Additionally, he said that the company is planning to expand to other parts of the country, by developing smaller offerings in the provinces.

“We are now looking at going to provinces that are ripe already for development, but in smaller areas. Before, we were targeting more than 20 hectares in a certain area, and we found out that it was better and faster to develop smaller areas,” he said.

He added that the company is targeting to develop five hectares of horizontal properties as it expands to Tacloban City, the provinces of Samar and Leyte in the Visayas, and other parts of Luzon and Mindanao.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sotto said in a statement that the company has 16 ongoing projects which are expected to contribute about P155 billion in revenues in the next seven to eight years.

“As of the end of the quarter, 8990’s land holdings now stand at 709.35 hectares with the addition of properties acquired in Cebu and Leyte,” he added.

The company said that its land bank in Luzon is expected to generate P98 billion on its top line, while Visayas and Mindanao are expected to contribute P67 billion and P6 billion, respectively.

During the first quarter, the company reported a 2.07% decline in attributable net income to P1.89 billion from P1.93 billion the previous year because of higher material costs.

In the three-month period, its revenues went up by 1.7% to P5.34 billion from P5.25 billion in the same period last year.

8990, through its subsidiaries, develops low-cost mass housing, medium-rise condominiums, and high-rise buildings.

It has six wholly owned subsidiaries, namely: 8990 Housing Development Corp., 8990 Luzon Housing Development Corp., 8990 Mindanao Housing Development Corp., 8990 Davao Housing Development Corp., 8990 Leisure and Resorts Corp., and Fog Horn, Inc.

On Monday, 8990 inched up by 0.11% or one centavo to P9.26 per share. — Adrian H. Halili