Conglomerate SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) grew its net profit by 9 percent year-on-year to P18.1 billion in the first semester, driven by higher earnings from the property and retailing businesses.
Consolidated revenues went up by 12 percent year-on-year to P204.9 billion during the six-month period, SMIC disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday.
“We are encouraged by the results of the first half, driven by the strong performance of retail and property, particularly the residential business. Our results show the strength of the economy and consumer sentiment but we remain vigilant about inflationary pressures. We are optimistic that consumption will remain resilient,” SM president Frederic DyBuncio said in a press statement.
SM Retail chalked up a net profit of 10 percent year-on-year to P5.7 billion on the back of a 10-percent increase in total sales to P145 billion.
At end-June 2018, SM Retail had a total of 2,149 stores, comprising 61 “The SM Store” department stores, 1,304 specialty stores, 55 SM Supermarkets, 49 SM Hypermarkets, 190 Savemore stores, 49 WalterMart stores and 441 Alfamart stores.
The food retail group continued its expansion across urban and rural communities nationwide, adding nine mid- sized format Savemore stores, three SM Supermarkets and four WalterMart stores. Meanwhile, Alfamart increased its number of stores by 93 in the first half.
The SM Store opened two stores, one each in Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Telabastagan, Pampanga. As of the first half, the total gross selling area of all 61 department stores stood at 783,650 square meters.
Revenues from SM Retail’s specialty retail stores grew by 17 percent to P37.3 billion, in part driven by expansion and new formats such as Miniso, which had 55 stores at the end of the first half.
It was earlier reported that property arm SM Prime Holdings posted a consolidated net income of P16.6 billion in the first half on higher earnings from its shopping mall, residential and hotel businesses.
On the other hand, BDO Unibank saw a 1.5-percent year-on-year dip in first semester net profit to P13.1 billion on accounting adjustments at its insurance arm alongside expenses for the expansion of its rural bank arm.
China Bank Corp. posted P3.6 billion in net profit in the first half, unchanged from the year ago level, on reduced reliance on securities trading.