MANILA, Philippines – SM Prime Holdings Inc. is looking to expand in other Southeast Asian countries to further grow its business.
 
In a briefing following the company’s annual stockholders meeting Tuesday,  SM Prime chairman Henry Sy Jr. said they were eyeing all areas in Asia
 
“We are studying all areas that will give us the best opportunities,” Sy said.
 
He said the company could either develop residential or commercial projects.
 
In China, SM Prime continues to be on the lookout for possible sites for expansion.
 
“We are looking for bigger lands good for commercial and residential development,” he said.
 
SM Prime executive vice president Jeffrey Lim, meanwhile, said the company was on track to double its net income to P32 billion by 2018.
 
“Part of these strategies is to expand existing malls,” he said.
 
The company is eyeing to raise up to P70 billion in retail bonds to help fund its P180 billion capital expenditures for the next three years.  The bonds will be issued over a three-year period with the first tranche of at least P10 billion to be issued in the third quarter of the year.
 
Last year, SM Prime reported a 54 percent surge in consolidated net income to P28.3 billion, buoyed by P7.4 billion one-time trading gains on marketable securities booked in the first quarter of 2015.
 
Its recurring net income rose 14 percent to P20.9 billion due to the eight percent increase in consolidated revenues to P71.5 billion.
 
“SM Prime sustained its overall net income growth in 2015 as the malls’ overall operations led the performance of the group. This is a reflection of the overall expansion of the economy that continues to be driven by the 6.2 percent growth in household consumption,” SM Prime president Hans T. Sy said.
 
For 2016, he said the company would continue to focus on “enhancing the synergies across our core business units as an integrated property developer.”
 
To date, SM Prime has a total of 56 malls in the Philippines with a total retail space of 7.3 million square meters.