MANILA – SM Prime Holdings Inc. reported profits of P22.9 billion in the first nine months of the year due to expansion efforts across all its businesses.
 
The Sy-led property company said its nine-month net income this year is up 70 percent from the P13.5 billion reported in the same period last year. 
SM said this year’s profits is inclusive of the P7.4 billion one-time trading gains on marketable securities booked in the first quarter of the year.
 
On a recurring basis, SM’s net income increased by 15 percent to P15.5 billion in the same period.
 
Consolidated revenues increased 9 percent to P52.2 billion from January to September.
 
Rental revenues from retail and commercial spaces, which contributed 56 percent to the consolidated revenues, increased by 11 percent to P29.4 billion from P26.4 billion in the first nine months of the year.
 
SM 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 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,” SM Prime president Hans Sy said in a disclosure to the stock exchange on Monday.
 
55 MALLS BY END-2015
 
By the end of 2015, SM Prime will have a total of 55 malls in the Philippines and six malls in China with an estimated combined gross floor area (GFA) of 8.3 million square meters (sqm).
 
SM Seaside City Cebu, which has a GFA of approximately 461,000 sqm, is set to open on November 27, 2014.
 
“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,” Sy said.
 
Last October 23, SM opened its first mall in Caloocan.
 
SM Prime earlier said it was allocating P65 billion in capital expenditures in 2016, bulk of which will be spent for mall expansions.