SMIC nets P31.2B

The country’s leading conglomerate SM Investments Corp. booked an 8 percent growth in net profit last year to P31.2 billion on higher earnings across its retailing, property and banking businesses.

Property accounted for 39 percent of total earnings while banking and retailing contributed 37 percent and 24 percent, respectively.

“Our core businesses performed well and continue to grow in line with the country’s strong economic development. We are optimistic about continued development and that government plans for infrastructure, agriculture and tourism in particular will enable broader regional growth. SM continues to prioritize regional investment and our nationwide expansion plans are focused on effective execution,” SM president Harley Sy said.

Consolidated revenues grew by 9 percent to P362.8 billion for the year, driven by an 8 percent increase in retail revenues and a 12 percent growth in property revenues.

SM Retail Inc. – which consists of non-food (department stores and specialty stores) and food stores – boosted net income by 7 percent to P10.6 billion on the back of an 8 percent growth in revenues to P276.5 billion.

Last year, SM Retail merged several leading specialty retail stores, creating an entity with over 1,400 outlets. The specialty stores added 153 stores nationwide last year.

“Following the retail merger last year, the performance of our specialty retail has been boosted by discretionary spending, especially in areas such as home furnishings and do-it-yourself goods, tracking the strong consumption and overall growth of the economy,” Sy added.

For its part, the department store segment under “The SM Store” opened four stores in SM San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan, SM Trece Martires and SM Molino in Cavite and SM East Ortigas in Pasig. Total gross selling areas of all 57 department stores stood at 0.75 million square meters.

The food group, which includes SM Markets (SM Supermarket, SM Hypermarket and Savemore) and WalterMart, continued to expand mostly in provincial areas last year. The group added 33 new stores, most of which are stand-alone Savemore stores. SM’s food group continues to expand in various regions of the country with a multi-format growth strategy to address the lack of organized retail.

At of end-December, SM Retail had a total of 2,110 outlets, comprising 57 SM Stores, 1,556 specialty retail outlets, 48 SM Supermarkets, 44 SM Hypermarkets, and 156 Savemore, 39 WalterMart and 210 Alfamart stores.

It was earlier reported that SM Prime Holdings’ recurring net income grew by 14 percent last year to P23.8 billion. Consolidated revenues grew by 12 percent to P79.8 billion.

BDO Unibank posted a record high net income of P26.1 billion in 2016, rising by 4.4 percent and meeting the bank’s guidance for the year. On the other hand, China Banking Corp. grew net income by 15 percent to P6.4 billion last year.

As of end 2016, SM’s total assets grew by 10 percent to P861.5 billion.