SM Prime posts P901-M income in first quarter

SM Prime Holdings, Inc., the Philippines’ premier shopping mall chain, posted a net income of P901 million in the first quarter, up by 11 percent from last year’s P814 million.

Total revenues for the period grew 18 percent to P1.650 billion from P1.396 billion in year 2000. Rental revenues for the period increased by 21 percent to P1.298 billion from the previous year’s P1.075 billion.

Income from operations increased by 14 percent to P1.003 billion for the three-month period in 2001 from last year’s P879 million. Operating expenses, on the other hand, increased by 25 percent to P647 million from P517 million, mainly due to the opening of the new malls in Manila and Pampanga.

SM Prime, amidst the slowing national economic indicators, continues to draw in the crowds to its 1.64 million square meters of mall space, as shoppers, seek to meet their basic needs and affordable wants. The two malls it opened last year have shown encouraging results. The 170,000 sq.m. SM City-Manila, which opened in April 2000, is close to fully being lease-awarded and occupied. The 57,000 sq.m. SM City-Pampanga, on the other hand, which welcomed shoppers in November 2000, experienced such a phenomenal take-up rate that the company has now finalized its plans for the second phase, to nearly double the original mall space.

The blue-chip company, once more voted in year 2000 the best-managed company in the Philippines in two global surveys of institutional investors and fund managers, is forging ahead with its expansion program in the outside Metro Manila. It is in the finishing stage for its 11th mall, SM Sucat Supercenter, which is scheduled for opening in May 2001, while its other mall construction, in Davao, the 12th mall, is planned for opening late this year.

In the pipeline are plans for mall projects in Bicutan, Parañaque, and Cagayan de Oro, the first phase of the Mall of Asia, at the reclamation area forming Manila Bay, plus two other sites, namely Dasmariñas, Cavite, and Marikina, Metro Manila.