“We have discovered that Camella is a preferred brand. We’re now like Jollibee or Shoemart. Every time we open (in an area), there is a magnitude of business in the office. And so we feel good to be about not only giving more business to Vista Land but we are able to provide goods to our country nationwide,” said Vista Land founder Manuel Villar.
Speaking at the sidelines of Vista Land’s fund-raising ceremony Wednesday, Villar said the company expects to cover the Philippines by next year. Vista Land raised a P4.8 billion unsecured fixed-rate note from a syndicate of banks.
“We have decided to take advantage of the countryside. Not everyone knows that we have been putting up Camella Homes everywhere. Tuguegarao, Isabela, Candon, Vigan, all the way to Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Butuan, GenSan, Butuan. Now we are even in second-tier cities like Pagadian, Marbel, Valencia,” said Villar.
Key to Vista Land’s success in making Camella an everyday brand is its focus on addressing the need of the overseas Filipinos who desire to have a house of their own in their place of origin.
“Before (the properties they can buy were limited) in major urban areas like Quezon City, Cebu City, and Davao. But now, there are Camella Homes in any major hometowns,” Villar said.
“That is our objective. We are eyeing about 15 to 20 more cities. By the end of this year, we would have opened in another eight cities. We can say that by the end of next year, we would have covered this country.
In home building, we are way, way ahead of the competition. We want to increase this. We feel good about (the fact) that we are able to provide this service to our people,” he Villar said.
Having successfully developed the Camella brand, Vista Land has other brands that cater to the higher income segment of the market, Vista Land is also focusing on developing its retail space portfolio, setting up 5,000 to 50,000 square meters of “small malls” in the designated commercial areas of its developments.
Vista Land has five mall developments set for completion --- Evia in Portofino in Las Pinas, one in Sucat, one in Antipolo, one in Muntinlupa, and another one in San Fernando. The company targets to bring the portfolio to 50 in five years.
“Every year, there will be 10 (malls) and the whole objective is to put up 50 malls in five years,” Villar said.
Villar said the company has also started construction of two more malls located in Cagayan de Oro and in Cebu City.
“These are two of the programs we are pursuing now. We are very glad of the results. These two (residential and rental leasing) are very profitable for us. These will create a complete Vista land,” he said.
“We will now be known not only as a house-and-lot developer. We are now very much in the condominium (development) although it is only a very small phase. We also want to be in malls and other areas of real estate,” Villar added.
Villar, however, expressed hope that the market will soon realize the company’s competitive advantage in the end-user segment of the property sector and have that reflected in Vista Land’s share price.
At yesterday’s close of P4.40 per share, the company is trading at less than 10 times its earnings per share, according to Villar.
Villar explained that what differentiates Vista Land from other property firms is that its developments are primarily horizontal and for end-users.
“Of the top 12 developer in the Philippines, we are the only one that is primarily horizontal. That is why I want to differentiate our market from the condo market. Yes, we also have condo (developments) but our market is basically end-user. When you talk about the 3.6-million backlog, you are talking about the housing backlog. Partially, there is a condominium (market) but a big part of the condo (market) is an investment market. But our market is 98 percent end-user. That’s different,” said Villar.
Villar said that given the company’s competitive advantage in a particular segment of the market, Vista Land’s valuation shouldn’t be far behind its peers in the market.
“If you look at other companies that take more than 10, we should have a double digit PE of 10 12, for a market controlled by us. But to me if we could increase that we should be having P42 billion in market cap, right now we only have P37 billion,” said Villar.
“To me a decent amount is not less than 10 times PE,” added Villar.
“Jollibee get a premium for being a leader in their industry. Shoemart gets a premium. Why are we not getting a premium for example for being number one in the industry.... To me, there is no reason why our PE has to be lesser than the competitor’s. Because here, we have a dominance of a very important sector of the market. In our market, we don’t have competition,” Villar said.
Vista Land officials are confident of hitting a target growth of 18 to 20 percent for the year as it reported its first quarter income at P1.06 billion, 22 percent higher than the P873 million reported a year ago.
Vista Land has allocated P32 billion as capital expenditures for the year with an eye to launch 32 residential subdivision projects nationwide.
Villar said the company will open 20 expansion projects in its numerous locations around the country as the company enjoyed brisk sales from the segment through projects been launched earlier. Villar also said that they will also launch horizontal developments in 12 areas that it will be entering for the first time since there is a need for more affordable housing units.
For 2013, Vista Land expects to hit a revenue of P20 billion, with profits at P4.2 billion.
For more details on Camella Homes'
projects, you may e-mail reby_ramirez@yahoo.com or contact her at 0922.883.9308
/ 0916.4044.555 / 0919.699.3572 / 4044-534.
For latest update on real estate
development and its RA 9646, the Real Estate Service Act of 2009, visit
www.ra9646.com.
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