MANILA, Philippines – SM Prime Holdings Inc., the country’s largest owner and operator of shopping malls, said it sustained the growth in its bottomline in the first three months of the year amid the global downturn perceived to dampen spending.

SM Prime told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday that its net income improved by seven percent to P1.7 billion from January to March 2009 as revenues for the period rose 18 percent to P4.7 billion.

The first quarter results include the operation of the three SM malls in China following their acquisition in early 2008.

The SM China malls are located in the cities of Xiamen and Jinjiang in Southern China and Chengdu in Central China.

‘We are very pleased by the resilience that our malls are experiencing despite earlier prognosis of a more challenging economic environment. The SM malls continue to enjoy high foot traffic and healthy sales growth, ‘ Hans Sy, SM Prime president said.

The company said rental fees still accounted for the largest share of SM Prime’s consolidated revenues, reaching P4.1 billion, for a year-on-year growth of 19 percent.

Rental fees still accounted for the largest share of SM Prime revenues, reaching P4.1 billion or a growth of 19 percent.

The new malls and the mall expansion drove the improvement in rental fees last year. New malls which opened last year were SM City Marikina, SM City Rosales, and SM City Baliwag.

Mall expansions were completed in The Annex at SM City North Edsa, and The Atrium at SM Megamall.

Owing to the new malls and expansions, SM Prime’s total gross floor area added about 353,000 square meters.

Cinema ticket sales also increased by eight percent owing to a number of local blockbuster movies.

Operating expenses for the period grew 23 percent to P2.2 billion as income from operations recorded a 14-percent growth to P2.5 billion.

SM Prime has also inaugurated SM City Naga in Camarines Sur, the company’s first mall in the Bicol region and its 34th mall.

For the rest of 2009, the company will open SM City Rosario in Cavite, and SM City Pamplona in Las Pinas.

By the end of the year, SM Prime expects to have 36 malls in the country, with an estimated gross floor area of 4.9 million square meters.