AYALA Land Inc. (ALI) has raised its 2026 capital expenditure (capex) program to about P60 billion, reflecting management’s confidence in completing strategic residential and leasing projects despite a challenging market environment.
ALI President and CEO Anna Ma. Margarita Bautista-Dy said in a media briefing late Monday that the higher spending would allow the company to proceed with projects considered as “high conviction” and strategic.
“For us, we felt that because these are such high-conviction projects for us, and that they were all very strategic, we decided to increase the capex in order for us to deliver on this, both on the leasing side and on the residential side,” Bautista-Dy said.
The revised capex is higher than the guidance Ayala Land announced earlier in the year of around P70 billion to P80 billion, which it then downgraded to about P50 billion in May.
Bautista-Dy described the upward revision as a reflection of the company’s confidence in its project pipeline.
“Capex, actually, we’re confident to bring it back up to about P60 billion, not quite what we thought we would do for the year, but higher than, I guess, the guidance that we gave after the first quarter. Again, a reflection of the confidence that we have,” she said.
Actual capital spending in the first half was P39.5 billion, down 2 percent from the same period last year.
The company is targeting to deliver 13,000 residential units across 40 projects this year, with about 6,000 units already delivered in the first half. It is also on track to complete about 200,000 square meters of mall space within the year.
“We want to finish all the projects that we have laid out for this year. We said we want to complete 200,000 square meters of mall space,” Bautista-Dy said.
The higher planned spending comes as Ayala Land continues to build its recurring-income businesses, including malls, hotels and other leasing assets.
“Our strategy has been to really build on our recurring income. As you know, we’ve invested on our flagship mall reinvention, the reinvention of our hotels, the expansion of all these leasing assets,” Bautista-Dy said.
For the first half of 2026, the company posted a net income of P11.5 billion on revenues of P75 billion.
Property development revenues reached P41 billion, while sales reservations stood at P53.5 billion. Residential inventory declined to 15 months from 18 months in the first quarter.
Leasing and hospitality revenues rose 9 percent year on year to P25.2 billion. Shopping center revenues increased 4 percent to P12 billion, while hospitality revenues jumped 28 percent to P6.3 billion. Office revenues reached P6 billion, supported by healthy occupancy and lease escalations.
The company also plans to recycle capital through AREIT Inc., with its board having recently approved a P20-billion property-for-share and cash transaction involving four malls and three hotels.
Bautista-Dy said Ayala Land expected to pursue another transaction worth about P10 billion before the year-end, potentially bringing the company’s total AREIT infusions for 2026 to P30 billion.
Shares of Ayala Land on Tuesday rose P0.10, or 0.63 percent, to close at P16.10 each.
