Rockwell Land set to venture into hotel management by 2014

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Category: Companies

Published on Wednesday, 29 May 2013 19:06

Written by VG Cabuag / Reporter

LOPEZ-CONTROLLED Rockwell Land Corp. is set to enter into hotel management by next year as the company hopes to expand its portfolio.

President and Chief Executive Officer Nestor Padilla said the Lopez property development firm will announce the brand of its hotel group by the end of the year.

“We’re looking beyond running our own serviced apartments and we’d like to be able to have a serviced apartments and hotel management. We don’t have a name for that yet but we know by second half of the year,” Padilla said in a news conference after the company’s stockholders’ meeting.

“It [the hotel brand] would be used on hotel and pension houses that will be run Rockwell style,” he said.

The company’s Edades Serviced Apartments in Rockwell Center in Makati City is expected to start operations by the first quarter of next year.

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Rockwell has been looking for new sources of growth as its current assets are already undergoing development.

Padilla said its land bank is only good for the next three years of development and Rockwell needs “to start acquiring next year to continue growth.”

In 2012 the company acquired parcels of land in San Juan, Quezon City, and a 3.1-hectare property in Cebu City, which would be Rockwell’s first development outside of Metro Manila.

The company offers properties to mostly upscale market, but Padilla said the strategy may continue for some time since what he calls the “ultra-high-end” market is proving to be very strong segment in the country.

“How we wish we can duplicate the Power Plant Mall strategy in other parts of the country. If we have big lots we can do that,” Padilla said, referring to its flagship township development in Makati City.

Last year, the company breached the P1-billion profit mark and Padilla said Rockwell expects to earn between P1.1 billion to P1.5 billion this year.

For the first quarter of the year, the company posted a net income of P216.2 million, an increase of 31 percent from last year’s P165.3 million.

Revenues reached P1.4 billion an increase of 19 percent from last year’s P1.1 billion. Around 80 percent of the revenues came from the sale of condominium units, and the rest were from other businesses including office rentals and commercial leasing.