Golden Haven 9-mo. net income up 27%

Golden Haven Memorial Park Inc., the first company to go public this year, reported a 27-percent increase in net income for the first nine months of the year, on the back of the firm's expansion plans.

Its net income grew at P135.5 million in January to September from P106.4 million a year earlier, the company said in a filing on Monday.

Revenue was up 20 percent at P607.3 million from P506.1 million.

"The continued double-digit growth of the company in both our top line and bottom line numbers that we have delivered were in line with our strategic expansion plans of providing premier, privately-managed memorial parks and services for Filipinos all over the country," Golden Haven Chairman Jerry M. Navarrete said.

As the first initial public offering on the Philippine Stock Exchange this year, Golden Haven was able to raise P778 million at P10.50 in June.

Golden Haven shares were trading at P12.32 apiece as of 10:59 a.m. Monday. It traded at an all-time intraday high of P23.10 per share on June 30.

"The funds we raised from our successful initial public offering is now being deployed to acquire more properties for expansion, to develop our existing parks as well as to construct our first stand-alone Memorial Chapel and Crematorium facility in the San Ezekiel complex in Las Piñas," Navarrete said.

Golden Haven also owns memorial parks in Cagayan de Oro, Bulacan, Cebu, Iloilo, and Zamboanga.

It recently acquired two existing memorial parks in Pampanga and Nueva Vizcaya with a total land area of 8.2 hectares. These memorial parks are being re-developed. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News