SM PRIME Holdings Inc. remains bullish on its business as it prepares to open its newest shopping center tomorrow, October 2, in Las Piñas.

The company made this assessment on its malls operations despite the damage Typhoon Ondoy has inflicted on two of its malls.

SM Prime, which is controlled by businessman Henry Sy Sr. and his family, is the developer and operator of the SM mall chain. It reported that two of its malls have been damaged by the heavy flooding caused by Typhoon Ondoy.

Jeffrey C. Lim, SM Prime executive vice president, said damage to two shopping centers and the cost of repairing them are “not material in terms of amount.”

“They’re not going to be significant [to our revenue),” Lim told reporters on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, SM Prime said in a statement posted on the website of the Philippine Stock Exchange that SM Center Las Piñas, its 35th SM Center in the country, which opens October 2, will be its second in the city after SM City Southmall.

“We warmly welcome all our loyal customers to our newest mall, SM Center Las Piñas. With its vibrant economy and eco-friendly environment, Las Piñas provides a good venue for SM malls as we see a huge potential for growth and progress in the city,” SM Prime president Hans T. Sy said in a statement.

SM Center Las Piñas is located along the Alabang-Zapote Road in barangay Talon, Pamplona in Las Piñas City. With gross floor area (GFA) of 32,387 square meters, the mall has also made provision for waiting space for 500 public-utility vehicles.

Lim said that SM’s shopping center in Sta. Mesa suffered more damage than the company’s mall in Marikina, one of the 17 cities in Metro Manila hardest hit by Typhoon Ondoy.

The floodwater, Lim said, reached the ceiling of the basement parking in Centerpoint Marikina, a mall built beside a creek.

“Nobody expected that amount of rainfall,” Lim said, referring to the heavy rainfall that flooded most of Metro Manila on Saturday and left more than 200 people dead and rendered homeless  thousands of residents.

Lim said the company is undertaking repairs and “fixing fixtures” in SM Sta. Mesa mall’s parking area and SM Marikina’s grocery section, aside from cleaning the affected areas in these malls.

He said SM Prime has yet to estimate the actual damage to the malls and the cost of repairs because “we’re focused on helping people near these areas.”

Lim also said the areas in the mall damaged by last weekend’s typhoon are insured. He could not say the same of the shops and products of its tenants.

SM Prime said in its first-half report that cash generated from operations increased by 19.13 percent to P7.25 billion in the period ended June 2009 from P6.08 billion in the same period last year.

Among main sources of revenue of SM Prime, which is 50.52-percent directly and indirectly-owned by SM Investments Corp., are rent income from leases in the mall and food courts, cinema ticket sales and amusement income from bowling and ice skating, among others.

SM Prime has 34 shopping malls in the Philippines with a total gross floor area of 4.4 million square meters. It also has three Supermalls located in the cities of Xiamen, Jinjiang and Chengdu in China with a total gross floor area of 0.5 million sqm.

Last week, SM Prime said it is targeting net income to grow by 8 percent to 9 percent for the full year from P6.7 billion in 2008.

The company’s first semester profits already hit P3.4 billion, over P3.2 billion in the same period last year. These profits resulted from revenues that rose 15 percent to P9.6 billion.