Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) is aiming for a V-shaped recovery although it may take two to three years to be able to perform as well as it had in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

“We are working towards a V-shape recovery and I am confident that we have the institutional capability, required resources, and a strong balance sheet to achieve this objective,” said ALI President and CEO Bernard Vincent O. Dy during the firm’s annual stockholders’ meeting.

He noted that, “Our view is that it will take two to three years to revert to our 2019 performance.”

Dy said that, “Although we are still in the middle of the pandemic, we are hopeful that the economy would continue to improve as the vaccine rollout gains traction in 2021.”

To set this recovery in motion, ALI has allocated P88.0 billion in capital expenditures and P100 billion worth of residential products for launch in 2021.

“With 30 estates across the country and more than 12 thousand hectares of land bank, we face the year confident in our ability to seize new opportunities in an evolving business climate,” he said.

Since this health crisis has inevitably caused temporary and permanent shifts in consumer behavior, affecting ALI’s business lines in numerous ways,” Dy said “Each business unit is carefully adjusting their strategies and practices to strengthen our market position and reinvent some of our business models to adapt to the new environment.”

Given the imperative for contactless interaction, Dy said “we completed 41 digital initiatives in 2020 involving automation and process improvements to enhance customer engagement and efficiency.”

“I am proud of how our people acted quickly to adapt to the new normal. Our residential brands maximized digital assets to reach out to buyers. This resulted in 17 percent of reservation sales originating from online channels,” he said. 

Dy addd that, “A total of 36 percent of our completed units were turned over to buyers in virtual format, providing a comprehensive, 360-degree view of the finished products. Despite construction difficulties, we handed over 6,635 residential units wherein 98 percent were accepted without rework.

ALI’s malls were kept open to make essential goods and services available to consumers. To facilitate contactless purchases, AyalaMalls updated its Z!ng app, introduced a personal shopper service – AyalaMalls Neighborhood Assistant, and a curbside pick-up option – DriveBuy.