Festival Mall acquisition boosts Filinvest REIT's growth

Filinvest REIT Corp., the real estate investment trust of the Gotianun Group, declared P404 million in fresh dividends after reporting an 8.3 percent growth in net income to P651 million in the first six months of 2025 from P601 million in the same period last year, according to a report by Manila Bulletin.

Filinvest REIT disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange that, for the first half of the year, it recorded revenues of P1.57 billion, higher by 13 percent from the same period in 2024, resulting from improvements in operations and the addition of Festival Main Mall to the portfolio.

Meanwhile, costs and expenses were contained at P613 million, higher by one percent, while other charges were lower by four percent to P187 million.

Festival Main Mall started accruing to the revenue stream of FILRT beginning May 29, 2025, equivalent to one month and three days’ revenue contribution.

The addition of Festival Main Mall is seen to improve FILRT's earnings per share by 5.5 percent in 2025. With the additional asset, FILRT’s portfolio size increased by 37 percent in terms of GLA to 452,310 square meters.

“We are pleased to have infused a value-adding asset into our portfolio through Festival Main Mall. Having this momentum, we look forward to adding more assets and diversifying our tenant base to further the growth of the company,” said FILRT President and CEO Maricel Brion-Lirio.

The company’s portfolio of 17 office buildings, one mall, and one resort lot totaling 452,310 square meters had an occupancy of 86 percent at the end of the first half of 2025, an improvement of five percentage points from 81 percent in June last year.

The current overall tenant mix is comprised of 60 percent offices, 32 percent retail, and the balance for hospitality. Of the offices segment, 84 percent are multinational BPO companies while 16 percent are traditional.

Efforts to diversify the tenant base have resulted in acquiring new traditional locators such as Qatar Aviation Services, Maxicare Health Services, and religious group The Feast, while new BPOs such as US-based Pinnacle Intelligence continue to locate in FILRT.

The Board of Directors of (FILRT), in a meeting held on August 6, 2024, approved the dividend declaration to all stockholders amounting to P0.062 per outstanding common share (amounting to P404 million), bringing year-to-date dividends to P0.186 per outstanding common share (total of P1.21 billion).

This is equivalent to an annualized yield of 7.1 percent based on the closing share price on August 5, 2024. The quarterly cash dividends will be payable on Sept. 5, 2025 to all stockholders on record as of Aug. 20, 2025.