Sta. Lucia sees profit growth of 18-25% this year

Sta. Lucia Land Inc. is optimistic profit this year will grow by at least 18 percent to as much as 25 percent amid an encouraging year.

This after the company’s nine-month performance a surpassed the 2021 bottomline of P2.84 billion at P2.87 billion, said David dela Cruz, Sta. Lucia Land chief finance officer.

Exequiel Robles, Sta. Lucia Land president, said many buyers had “renewed appreciation for neighborhoods that can give wide open spaces, lush surroundings, pocket gardens, fresh air, and opportunities to commune with nature.”

“This is why we’ve seen considerable growth in demand for our projects, because majority of our developments offer farms, beachfronts lots, lakes, and access to world-class golf courses,” Robles added.

Dela Cruz said in an interview the company is preparing for activities next year and is eyeing a capital expenditure of P6.5 billion, up from P6 billion this year.

Revenues nine months into the year rose 30.7 percent to P7.5 billion.

Sta. Lucia is looking at a busy schedule next year developing communities in various locations in the country, but mostly in Iloilo, Davao, Manila, Rizal and Batangas.

This will help the company further improve its compounded growth of 20-plus percent in the past seven years as it reaps the benefits from its projects, Dela Cruz said.

Since listing in 2008 via its acquisition of listed Zipporah Mining and Industrial Corp., the company has grown from a P10-billion realty to the present P55 billion in terms of asset as the listing enabled it to tap into the capital market, particularly unsecured loans, said Dela Cruz.

“Then the banks started having confidence in us and our total bank loan debt today is about P21 billion coming from virtually zero in 2008. But the corresponding asset grew from P10 billion to P55 billion, with our net asset value as of December 2022 at about P56 billion,” he said.

Dela Cruz said the company will tap additional borrowing next year to fund part of its capital spending.

Sta. Lucia is also eyeing further increasing its float in the next two years, he added.

At present Sta. Lucia Land has a comprehensive and diverse portfolio comprising of over 300 developed projects in 70 cities and 11 regions.

 

Source: https://malaya.com.ph/news_business/sta-lucia-sees-profit-growth-of-18-25-this-year/