SM Prime Holdings, the country’s largest shopping mall developer, grew its first-quarter net profit by 15 percent to P2.43 billion from a year ago as revenues from new and existing malls expanded.
Consolidated revenues grew by 16 percent to P7.03 billion year on year and the increase was attributed to a mix of factors, including additional capacity from new malls opened in the Philippines during the past two years, a same-store rental growth of 8 percent and the rising momentum in its China operations.
“SM Prime’s better-than-expected performance during the first three months is a welcome development. It confirms our optimism in the Philippine economy and SM’s ability to thrive in competitive environments in China. This bodes well with our plan this year to open five new malls in the Philippines and one in China. With these new malls, SM Prime greatly enhances its capability to serve the varied needs of its clients and to maintain its dominant position in the industry,” SM Prime president Hans Sy said in a statement.
During the stockholders’ meeting on Tuesday, Sy also announced the opening this year of the group’s fifth mall in southwest China in Chongqing, one of the largest cities in China with a population of 32 million.
The new mall will add 147,446 square meters to the group’s shopping mall portfolio in China.
The first-quarter results include the operations of the four SM malls in China, located at the cities of Xiamen and Jinjiang in southern China, Chengdu in central China, and Suzhou in Eastern China.
The four SM malls in China reported a 34-percent rise in gross revenues to P620 million and a growth in net income of 44 percent to P140 million.
Earlier this year, SM Prime inaugurated SM City Olongapo, its first mall in the province of Zambales. For the rest of 2012, SM Prime is scheduled to open SM City Lanang in Davao City, SM City General Santos in southern Mindanao, SM City Consolacion in Cebu, SM City San Fernando in Pampanga and SM Chongqing in China.
By the end of this year, SM Prime will have 46 malls in the Philippines and five in China with an estimated combined gross floor area of 6.3 million square meters.