SM Prime Holdings, Inc., the country’s leading shopping mall developer and operator, reported an 11 percent rise in net income for the first quarter of the year to P1.5 billion, while EBITDA jumped 19 percent to P2.5 billion for an EBITDA margin of 71 percent.

The firm disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) yesterday that gross revenues for the period grew 24 percent to P3.6 billion as the company continued to benefit from the expanded rental revenues bought in by the five malls that opened in 2006.

Malls that opened last year were the SM Mall of Asia, SM City Sta. Rosa, SM City Clark, SM Supercenter Pasig and SM City Lipa. SM North Edsa was also expanded with opening of The Block.

In the meantime, SM Prime opened SM City Bacolod in March this year bringing total gross floor area to 3.6 million square meters. It also opened last week the Annex of SM City Cebu which increased its gross floor area by 66 percent or 107,049 sqm., for a total 268,611 sqm., making it the fourth largest mall of SM Prime and the largest in the Visayas.

‘SM Prime will continue to reap the benefits of its continued expansion this year and in many years to come,’ said SM Prime President Hans T. Sy adding that, ‘because of this, SM Prime offers stability, innovative service, and a strong track record that has built a strong brand franchise for the Filipino community.’

He said the public can expect more to come from SM Prime ‘as we carry out our goal of bringing more SM malls to provincial communities and expand some of our existing malls that have naturally grown and evolved with its markets.’

For the first quarter, rental revenues from the malls, which accounted for 83 percent of total revenues, grew 26 percent to P3.0 billion with same store rental growth at 7 percent. The new malls have an average occupancy level of 97 percent while.

Cinema ticket sales showed a strong 19 percent increase to P429 million, as more cinemas opened, supported by both domestic and international blockbuster films.

Meanwhile, as expected on account of the aggressive mall openings last year, operating expenses increased to P1.6 billion but operating income still grew by 17 percent to P2 billion during the period.

Other malls scheduled to open in 2007 are SM City Taytay and SM Supercenter Muntinlupa while the expansion of existing malls are also underway.

These include the Science Discovery Center in the Mall of Asia and SM City Pampanga.