Regional property developer Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) on Monday said its attributable income in the first semester expanded by 66 percent to P1.31 billion from last year's P791.8 million as sales recovered.

Revenues for the period grew 46 percent to P5.13 billion from last year's P3.51 billion, though most of it came from real estate sales, while its rental income and management fees fell to single-digit rates.

Reservation sales rose 12 percent to a record P8.3 billion from P7.4 billion last year, which the company attributed to the strong demand for houses due to the pandemic.

The company said six residential projects of its economic, mid- and high-end brands worth P11 billion were launched during the period in Cebu, Iloilo and Ormoc.

CLI said its leasing and hotel businesses have been crippled by the pandemic, but the company is still expanding as it is growing its hotel portfolio to 1,433 rooms by 2025, when the tourism industry is anticipated to bounce back.

Earlier this year, the company launched Sofitel Cebu City, Mercure Cebu City and Abaca Resort Mactan which will account for a total of 487 rooms. Latitude Corporate Center was also completed, which added 13,000 square meter of gross leasable area.

"Housing has proven to be resilient and sustainable since it is now, more than ever, considered a basic need especially with the extended pandemic," Jose Soberano III, the company's CEO, said.  "We intend to continue benefiting from our core business—housing—while preparing for new opportunities that global recovery and tourism will bring. We are confident VisMin will be at the forefront of this revival."

The company said it has 29,051 square meters in gross leasable area (GLA) for the first half of 2021, double the GLA at end-2020. In four to five years, the recurring business is projected to contribute 10 percent to CLI's top line.

It said CLI was able to complete five projects during the period, which generated some P5 billion in collections upon take-out and turnover. To date, CLI has 40 completed projects while 36 are under construction and 14 are in the pipeline.

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