SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPH.PH), the Philippines’ largest mall operator by revenue, Friday said its net profit rose 10% in 2007 on new shopping malls, expansion of existing ones and ticket sales from blockbuster movies. 

The company posted a net profit of PHP6.0 billion compared with PHP5.4 billion in 2006.  The figure was lower than forecasts from four brokerage houses polled by Thomson Analytics, which were in a range of PHP6.05 billion-PHP6.39 billion range, and the average forecast at PHP6.15 billion. 

SM Prime said gross revenue rose 16% to PHP15.3 billion, led by rental income, which grew 17% to PHP12.8 billion.  Cinema ticket sales totaled PHP1.8 billion, up 12.5% from PHP1.6 billion in 2006 as new malls added 3,506 new cinema seats to existing capacity of 119,320, while blockbuster movies also boosted sales. 

Operating expenses were up 19% at PHP6.6 billion.  ‘SM Prime successfully met its 2007 targets. We are satisfied with this achievement,’ SM Prime President Hans Sy said in a statement. He didn’t disclose the company’s targets. 

The company opened three new malls last year and expanded three existing ones. At end-2007, it had 30 malls nationwide with a total gross floor area of 3.9 million square meters and average daily traffic of 2.5 million pedestrians. 

This year, SM Prime plans to open three new malls and expand two existing ones to expand its gross floor area to 4.1 million square meters. It has allocated PHP6.0 billion for the expansion and the new malls.