SM nets P6.24B in Q1

Screengrab from www.sminvestments.com

MANILA, Philippines—SM Investments Corp. posted a 16-percent year-on-year decline in first quarter net profit to P6.24 billion in the absence of large extraordinary trading gains that jacked up earnings of banking unit Banco de Oro Unibank in the same period last year.

But as BDO aims to match or slightly exceed its full-year 2013 earnings this year, SMIC chief finance officer Jose Sio told reporters that SMIC could still end this year with higher growth, albeit at single digit, over last year’s bottomline.

Excluding extraordinary items, SMIC’s core net profit for the first quarter stood at P6.24 billion, up by 11 percent over the previous year.

“Underlying growth is strong in the first quarter,” said Cora Guidote, SMIC investor relations chief, adding that the retail business marked a positive surprise in the first three months.

SM Retail reported a three-month net income of P1.2 billion, 4 percent higher than the level last year. Net margin stood at 3 percent and was seen to stabilize at such level this year. Sales turnover grew by 16 percent in the first quarter from the same period last year.

As of end-March, SM Retail opened four new stores, bringing to 245 to total number of stores—48 SM (department) Stores, 39 Supermarkets, 40 SM Hypermarkets, 96 Savemore stores and 22 Waltermart stores.

“We are pleased with our performance in the first quarter, having delivered double-digit underlying top and bottomline growth. Retail started the year with strong revenue growth even as the intensifying competition puts pressure on margins. The newly formed property group has begun operating as a more cohesive integrated unit, and the banks continue to deliver strong profit growth. The environment will continue to be challenging, but we are focused on strengthening our core businesses to build our markets,” SM president Harley Sy said.

Despite the decline in bank earnings in the first quarter, this segment continued to account for the largest share of first quarter SMIC’s net income at 41 percent, followed by the property business which contributed 40 percent.  The retail segment accounted for 19 percent.

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