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Corporate Write-up |
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The Chairman's Message written by JB Lazarte
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Carefully and prudently, we have taken
each step towards our goals with your interest foremost in our minds. Buttressed by strong
gains, Empire East’s performance for the past year further entrenched it in the
industry it has chosen to dominate: middle income housing. Underlying the robust growth of our
income in 2002 is the inherent strength and efficiency of our finely tuned collection
scheme, which we have been implementing in the past few years. As a result, your
company’s booked sales increased by 18 percent, from P1.531 billion in 2001 to P1.813
billion in 2002. Likewise, we have noted a 162 percent increase in cash and cash
equivalents, from P96.869 million to P253.452 million. Our interest income also leaped by
54 percent, from P302 million to P464 million. While maintaining the premium quality
of its projects, the innovative measures your company adopted to harmonize its operating
expenses with the peculiar conditions of the country’s middle income market decreased
the cost of doing its business. As a result, in 2002, the over-all cost of running our
various enterprises fell by 6.7 percent to P392.5 million from the previous year’s
P421 million. In the same vein, your company widened
its asset base by three percent, from P20.99 billion to P21.6 billion in 2002. Capturing
the bounties of the future by building on the present. To build great living spaces that are
accessible to all. That is Empire East’s vision—a simple yet powerful idea that
inspired the creation of your company and still serves as our guide until now. This
abiding principle has become a way of doing business and a way of life for the men and
women at Empire East. Every township road we have lovingly paved, every living room we
have thoughtfully designed, every community we have affectionately completed and brought
to life is a testament to our sincere commitment to celebrate good living in every aspect
of our business. Even if the call of the good life seems
muted in these challenging times, your company continues building on its promise to gift
every Filipino family a slice of the kind of living we create. In 2002, your company
brought new energy to this promise when we made another monumental deal with the landed
Yulo clan to develop the 25-hectare Laguna BelAir 4. Building on the overwhelming success of
our beloved Laguna BelAir township, the fourth phase makes a big leap in terms of
architectural innovations and living comfort. While Laguna BelAir 1, 2 and 3 are already
remarkable for their generous space, intelligent interior design and layout, Laguna BelAir
4 boasts of even larger living spaces, higher room ceilings and a larger lot area with
enough space for a carport. The remarkable market performance of the Laguna BelAir community also raises the bar for the strong sales of another Empire East township in one of the best parts of Pasig City, the Cambridge Village. Elsewhere in the city, particularly in
the Quezon City-Greenhills and Mandaluyong-Ortigas areas, your company is making great
strides with three of its best-selling garden communities. As of April 2003, The Xavier
Hills is 50 percent complete, while work on Greenhills Garden Square reached the 90
percent mark. Excavation and structural work on California Garden Square is also complete,
priming it for its scheduled turnover in 2004. By building or expanding on what has
always been successful, every strategic move Empire East makes is meant to corner the
market’s upturn in the foreseeable future. Our confidence in our decisions grows as
strong market indications confirm that indeed, we are steering toward the right
directions—increasing demands for housing, affordable properties, attractive payment
schemes for buyers and lower interest rates on bank financing. Your company has always shown the kind
of business savvy that allowed it to rise above the lingering effects of a challenging
economic situation. Upturn or not, Empire East will continue laying the bricks for an even
better future. This inexorable focus, I believe, has been at the heart of Empire
East’s continuous growth and burgeoning portfolio of accomplishments throughout the
years. Your company’s proactive corporate
culture has also fortified it in its well-deserved place in the pantheon of the
country’s leading developers in the middle income segment. Guided by a can-do
management style founded on our hard-earned fiscal wisdom, Empire East is wholeheartedly
proud to share with you the company’s achievements in the past year, while renewing
our pledge to do even better in the years ahead.
Copyright (c) 2004 by Joe Bert G. Lazarte
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