SM Investments Corp. nets P37B in 2018

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s leading conglomerate SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) grew net profit last year by 13 percent to P37.1 billion on higher earnings across its core retail, banking, and property businesses.

Consolidated revenues went up by 13 percent to P449.8 billion, SMIC disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday.

“Our very good results in 2018 were driven by all three core businesses, retail, banking and property, each of which delivered strong revenue growth and also strong earnings growth. We remain optimistic about the economic environment and growth opportunities for the group in 2019,” SM president Frederic DyBuncio said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday.

Property accounted for 41 percent of SMIC’s total earnings, with banks comprising 38 percent, and retail comprising 21 percent.

Despite the surge in local inflation last year, SM Retail Inc. grew net profit by 8 percent to P11.3 billion on the back of a 12-percent growth in revenues to P335.6 billion.

At end-December 2018, SM Retail had a total of 2,328 outlets, comprising 63 department stores, 1,383 specialty retail outlets, 56 SM Supermarkets, 53 SM Hypermarkets, 195 Savemore, 52 WalterMart, and 526 Alfamart stores. A total of 335 outlets were added in 2018 across the retail business portfolio.

The department store unit under The SM Store opened four stores in Urdaneta, Telebastagan, Legazpi, and Valenzuela. At end-2018, total gross selling areas of all 63 SM department stores stood at 797,740 square meters.

The food group – which includes SM Markets (SM Supermarket, SM Hypermarket and Savemore), Alfamart, and WalterMart – added 210 new stores in 2018.

It was earlier reported that property arm SM Prime Holdings grew net profit last year by 17 percent to a record high P32.2 billion as consolidated revenues rose by 14 percent to P104.1 billion.

Banking arm BDO Unibank Inc. outperformed expectations by delivering a net income of P32.7 billion last year, up by 17 percent. This 2018 net profit level also beat BDO’s full-year guidance of P31 billion. /kga