THE Philippines’ biggest mall developer and operator said its profit grew in the low double digits last year on the back of new shopping centers and the expansion of existing ones.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), SM Prime Holdings Inc. said it posted a consolidated net income of P7 billion last year, 10 percent higher than the P6.4 billion in 2008.

‘Due to the continued support and patronage of our customers, SM Prime again met its targets for 2009 despite the challenges brought about by the global recession and a series of natural calamities that affected most of Luzon in the latter part of the year,’ Hans Sy, SM Prime president, said.

Its revenues grew by 15 percent to P20.5 billion last year.

The company opened three malls in the cities of Xiamen and Jinjiang in Southern China and Chengdu in Central China. It also opened three Philippine malls in Naga, Las Pinas and Cavite.

Rental fees, which accounted for 86 percent of total revenues, rose 15 percent to P17.7 billion, driven mainly by new malls and the expansion of existing ones, although same store sales increased a slower 5 percent.

The company also expanded SM City Rosales in Pangasinan, SM City Fairview and SM North EDSA through its Sky Garden. The Sky Garden further reestablished SM North EDSA as the country’s largest shopping center.

The new malls and expansions added 226,000 square meters to the company’s total gross floor area, bringing it to 4.5 million square meters, for a 5-percent increase.

Operating expenses increased by 19 percent to P9.7 billion, largely because of expenses related to mall expansion.

For this year, SM Prime plans to open six malls, including SM City Novaliches in Quezon City; SM City Tarlac; SM Supercenter Masinag in Antipolo City; and SM City Calamba and SM Supercenter San Pablo, both in Laguna.

SM Prime is also scheduled to open SM Suzhou in the province of Jiangsu on the fourth quarter, its fourth mall in China. The new mall would have approximately 70,000 square meters of gross floor area.

By the end of the year, SM Prime will have 41 malls in the country, 16 of which are in Metro Manila.