SM Investments’ profit up 8%
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.
“We are optimistic about continued development and that government plans for infrastructure, agriculture and tourism 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 revenue grew by 9 percent to P362.8 billion last year, driven by an 8-percent rise in retail revenue and a 12-percent growth in property revenue.
SM Retail Inc. grew its net income by 7 percent to P10.6 billion on an 8-percent growth in revenue to P276.5 billion.
Last year, SM Retail merged several leading specialty retail stores, creating an entity with more than 1,400 outlets.
“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.
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. It added 33 new stores, most of which are stand-alone Savemore stores. SM’s food group continues to expand in various regions with a multi-format growth strategy to address the lack of organized retail.
At the end of 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 revenue was up 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. China Banking Corp. posted a 15-percent profit growth last year to P6.4 billion.
As of end 2016, SM’s total assets rose by 10 percent to P861.5 billion.
