MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SM Prime), the Philippines’ biggest shopping mall developer and operator, posted net income of P7 billion ($151.7 million) in 2009, up 10 percent on year, thanks to strong revenue growth.

In a disclosure sent to the Philippine Stock Exchange Friday, SM Prime officials said revenues rose 15 percent to P20.5 billion ($444.3 million). The opening of new malls outside of the country’s capital and expansion of space in existing SM malls bolstered company earnings of SM Prime in 2009.

The company’s cash flow as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to P14 billion ($303.4 million), up 14 percent on year, with an EBITDA margin of 68 percent.

These results include both the domestic and international operations. SM Prime operates three SM malls in China, which are located in the cities of Xiamen and Jinjiang in southern China, and Chengdu in central China.

‘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,’ SM Prime President Hans T. Sy said in a statement.

Rental fees, accounted for 86 percent of total revenues and hit P17.7 billion ($383.6 million) in 2009. This is 15 percent higher than 2008.

The new malls and the expansion of existing malls 2009 added 226,000 square meters to the company’s total gross floor area (GFA), bringing it to 4.5 million square meters. This is 5 percent higher than in 2008.