SM Prime ’12 profit up 16%

Shopping mall giant SM Prime Holdings Inc. grew its net profit last year by 16 percent to P10.53 billion on the back of revenues from new and existing malls, including those in mainland China.

SM Prime, led by the family of tycoon Henry Sy, disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday that it had exceeded its profit growth target for the second straight year.

Total revenues for the year rose by 14 percent to P30.73 billion while cash flow as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) increased by 12 percent to P20.7 billion, for an Ebitda margin of 67 percent.

Although already a household brand in the Philippines, SM Prime has a growing revenue stream from overseas operations.  Last year’s robust results included the operations of the five SM malls in China, in the cities of Xiamen, Jinjiang, Chengdu, Suzhou and Chongqing.

SM Prime’s better-than-expected performance was attributed to rentals from new SM Supermalls launched in 2011 and 2012 coupled with a robust same-store rental growth of 8 percent. Moreover, the company said its shopping malls in China continued to perform well, with net income amounting to P1.1 billion in 2012, 24 percent higher than the bottom line in the previous year.

“We are very pleased to end 2012 with excellent results. We are confident that the Philippine growth story, which we saw unfold last year will continue in 2013. In line with this, we will proceed with our aggressive expansion plans and continue to pursue new opportunities for growth. We sincerely thank all our stakeholders for another year of remarkable growth and for the confidence they have entrusted upon us,” SM Prime president Hans Sy said in a statement. Doris C. Dumlao