SM Prime Holdings Inc. said its net income grew 10 percent to P6 billion in 2007 from P5.4 billion in 2006 with the entry of new malls. In a statement, SM Prime said gross revenues last year rose 16 percent to P15.3 billion.

With three new malls opened and three existing malls expanded in 2007, rental revenues contributed the largest share of the income. Rental revenues increased 17 percent last year to P12.8 billion from P11 billion in 2006.

Cinema ticket sales registered a 15-percent increase to P1.8 billion, versus P1.6 billion the previous year. This is largely due to new malls adding 3,506 cinema seats to the existing 119,320 total seating capacity.

Income from operations rose 14 percent to P8.7 billion from P7.7 billion in 2006. Operating expenses, on the other hand, increased 19 percent to P6.6 billion.

The three new malls inaugurated in 2007 were SM City Bacolod, with a gross floor area (GFA) of 61,413 square meters; SM City Taytay, with a GFA of 91,920 sq.m.; and SM Supercenter Muntinlupa, with a GFA of 53,986 sq.m.

Those expanded were SM City Pampanga, SM City Cebu, and SM Mall of Asia. As of end-2007, SM Prime’s 30 malls nationwide, 13 of which are in Metro Manila, have a combined GFA of 3.9 million sq.m., with an average daily pedestrian count of 2.5 million.

‘SM Prime successfully met its 2007 targets. We are satisfied with this achievement. What we have attained last year serves as a challenge for us to work and strive even harder in 2008,’ SM Prime president Hans T. Sy said in a statement.