SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SM Prime) yesterday said profit for the first nine months of the year reached P5.6 billion, 11 percent higher than the P5.1 billion during the same period last year..

Revenues reached P17 billion, up 17 percent.

‘EBITDA for the period stood at P11.5 billion, for an increase of 15 percent and an EBITDA margin of 68 percent,’ the company said.

‘Our performance for the first nine months of 2010 remains on track, and in fact better than we earlier expected given a more robust consumer environment. The domestic economy displays strength and sustainable growth which fuels increased spending that flows into SM malls. We expect this trend to continue into the last quarter of the year, when the holiday season further boosts consumer spending,’ SM Prime president Hans T. Sy said.

Consolidated rental revenues contributed 84 percent to the total, and grew by 13 percent to P14.3 billion. The increase came from both new space and same store rental growth of 6 percent.

Cinema ticket sales from January to September 2010 jumped 41 percent to P2 billion from P1.4 billion. Hit movies shown since January included ‘Avatar’, ‘Iron Man 2’, ‘Clash of the Titans’, ‘Shrek Forever After’ and ‘Twilight Saga: Eclipse.’

In October 2010, SM Prime inaugurated three new malls — SM City Novaliches in Quezon City, SM City San Pablo in Laguna SM City Calamba also in Laguna.

The company is scheduled to unveil a mall in Suzhou, its fourth in China.

By end 2010, SM Prime will have 40 malls nationwide. Including the four SM China malls, its total estimated gross flour area is 5.4 million sq.m.