SM Prime Holdings, Inc., the country’s leading shopping mall developer and operator, has posted an 11 per cent rise in first half net income to P2.9 billion (US million) on the back of robust rental revenue.

Rental revenue, which comprised 82 per cent of total revenue, surged 22 per cent to P6.15 billion in January-June, according to a report in the Manila Bulletin. 

SM Prime enjoyed fresh revenue streams from last year’s new malls including the 386,000 square metre Mall of Asia which turned one-year-old in May 2007.

Other malls that opened last year were SM City Santa Rosa, SM City Lipa, SM City Clark, SM Supercenter Pasig, and The Block, a mall extension of SM North EDSA. This year, SM Prime opened SM City Bacolod.

All these new malls have an average occupancy rate of 98 per cent. Together they provide an extra 800,000 square metres of gross floor area, bringing the total to 3.6 million square metres for all 28 SM Prime malls across the Philippines.

Average daily foot traffic for all the malls is 2 million. Meanwhile, cinema ticket sales jumped 28 per cent to P969 million in the first half, due to the opening of more cinemas and the screening of blockbuster movies.