Friday, November 4, 2011
Source: BusinessWorld

SM PRIME Holdings, Inc., the mall operating arm of the SM Group, hiked its consolidated net income by double-digits on the back of mall expansions and store rental growth, a disclosure to the local bourse showed on Thursday.

SM Prime posted a 15% growth in its third quarter net income to P2.14 billion from P1.86 billion in the same period last year, while revenues similarly increased by 15% to P6.56 billion year-on-year.

This brought SM Prime’s nine-month net income to P6.41 billion, a 14% gain from P5.62 billion in year-ago levels. Consolidated revenues amounted to P19.27 billion, a 13% increase from P17.03 billion.

This, even as operating expenses during the first nine months of 2011 rose by 12% to P9.12 billion from P8.14 billion last year.

Earlier this year, SM Prime opened SM City Masinag in Antipolo City, and SM City Suzhou in China. The company is expected to open three more malls by the year-end and expand two existing malls.

“The notable results delivered by SM Prime so far this year give us greater confidence in attaining our full-year target for both the Philippines and China, especially since we are moving towards the holiday season,” said SM Prime President Hans T. Sy in a press statement.
 
 “We will continue to offer good value products and services to our customers, and improve on areas that will give an even more enhanced shopping and entertainment experience to them,” Mr. Sy added. -- Franz Jonathan G. de la Fuente