SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SM Prime) said profit for the first nine months of the year reached P22.9 billion, 70 percent higher than last year’s P13.47 billion. 
 
The company said the reported profit include the P7.4-billion one-time trading gains on marketable securities  booked in the first quarter which  lifted the profit figure. 
 
“On a recurring basis, net income increased by 15 percent to P15.5 billion in the same period,” the company said. 
 
“Recurring income growth for the third quarter was likewise at P4.2 billion, up 15 percent over the third quarter in 2014,” it added.
 
Consolidated revenues reached P52.2 billion, 9 percent higher than last year’s P47.89 billion.
 
“SM Prime’s expansion across all its various business portfolios since 2013 has driven its strong financial performance this year. We expect SM Prime’s growth to be sustained as we continue to increase our mall footprint by 13 percent this year. We are excited to launch SM Seaside Cebu later this year, a landmark project in the Visayas region. We see Metro Cebu as one of our important growth corridors following our growth track in Metro Manila,” said Hans T. Sy, SM Prime president.
 
Rental revenues from retail and commercial spaces contributed 56 percent of the total and grew 11 percent to P29.4 billion from P26.4 billion. 
 
SM Prime said the growth in rental revenues was mainly driven by rising contribution from the new malls and the expansion of shopping spaces in existing malls in 2013 and 2014 — SM Aura Premier, SM City BF Parañaque, Mega Fashion Hall in SM Megamall, SM City Cauayan, SM Center Angono and the expansion of SM City Bacolod with a total gross floor area (GFA) of 652,000 square meters. 
 
“Rental growth also came from the opening of the FiveE-comCenter, with a GFA of almost 130,000 sqm at Mall of Asia Complex with 97 percent of the space leased awarded. Meanwhile, same-store rental growth remained at 7 percent, maintaining the growth posted since 2012,” it said.
 
Real estate sales meanwhile accounted for 32 percent and were up 4 percent to P16.6 billion from P16 billion last year. 
 
“The improvement in real estate sales was largely attributed to the increase in the sales take-up and higher construction accomplishment of SM Development Corp. (SMDC)  projects launched in 2010 to 2013 namely Jazz Residences in Makati City, Wind Residences in Tagaytay, Green Residences in Manila, Breeze Residences in Manila, Grace Residences in Taguig, Shore Residences in Pasay and Trees Residences in Quezon City,” the company said. 
 
“For its part, SMDC alone posted a net income increase of 23 percent to P3.8 billion during the nine-month period from P3.1 billion,” it added. 
 
The housing group’s reservation sales was up by 19 percent year-on-year to 10,297 units in the first nine months of 2015 reflecting a 22 percent increase in value worth P28.4 billion from P23.3 billion in the same period last year. 
 
“Reservation sales were largely generated from Shore 2 Residences, Shore Residences, Air Residences, Fame Residences and Grace Residences in Pasay, Makati, Mandaluyong and Taguig City, respectively,” SM Prime said. 
 
Cinema and event ticket sales meanwhile accounted for 6.5 percent of total revenues, registered a growth of 4 percent in the first nine months to P3.4 billion.  
 
Other revenues, composed of amusement income from rides, bowling and ice skating operations, merchandise sales from snack-bars and sale of food and beverages in hotels stood at P2.8 billion, up 30 percent from P2.1 billion. 
 
SM Prime closed the period with a total of 52 malls in the Philippines including SM Megacenter Cabanatuan in Nueva Ecija and SM City San Mateo in Rizal which opened last April 24 and May 15, respectively. In China, SM Prime has six shopping malls with a GFA of 0.9 million sqm including the recently opened SM City Zibo. Taking into account both Philippine and China malls, SM Prime’s total retail space is at 7.6 million sqm.
 
SM Prime recently opened SM City Cabanatuan, with a GFA of 154,020 sqm, and SM Center Sangandaan, with GFA of 38,622 sqm, last October 9 and October 23, respectively. For the rest of the year, SM Prime is set to open its regional landmark, SM Seaside City Cebu, with a GFA of approximately 461,000 sqm, on November 27, 2015. The company is also expanding two existing malls, SM City Lipa in Batangas and SM City Iloilo. Combined, these new and expanded malls will have a total GFA of almost 719,000 sqm.