SM Prime posts 10% income growth

SM Prime Holdings Inc., the mall development arm of the SM Group, registered a steady 10 percent increase in profit during the first six months of 2002 as additional revenues streamed in from two new malls opened last year.

From P1.701 billion a year ago, SMPH’s net income rose to P1.873 billion in the first semester as total revenues grew 14 percent to P3.888 billion from P3.406 billion in the same period last year.

The company said its main source of revenues – rentals from tenants – rose 13 percent to P3.054 billion while revenues from cinema operations surged a noteworthy 22 percent to P639 million, attributing the rise to more box-office hits.

Last year, SMPH opened two new malls – the SM Supercenter in Sucat, Parañaque and SM City-Davao, hiking the entire SM Mall chain to a total of 12 nationwide. In addition to the two new malls, the company expanded by 23,000 square meters the SM City-Pampanga.

With its steady goal of putting up two new malls every year, SMPH is set to inaugurate its 13th and 14th malls by the fourth quarter in Bicutan, Parañaque and Cagayan de Oro City, respectively.

The multi-level SM Bicutan will rise on a 40,000-square meter property on the corner of the South Luzon Expressway and Doña Soledad Interchange or the Bicutan Interchange, a major transport terminal and the crossroad to several densely populated Parañaque and the Taguig barangays as well as some of the country’s biggest factories and warehouses.

SM Cagayan de Oro, on the other hand, will sit on a 59,000-square meter site along the national highway leading to the airport. A major trading port, transshipment point, education center and tourist destination, Cagayan de Oro, the capital of Misamis Oriental, is considered the gateway to northern Mindanao.

In the meantime, SMPH continues to build up its land bank for its mall development program, amassing 160 hectares of strategically located properties in 15 cities and municipalities, inclusive of the sites under construction.

Among these properties are those located in Manila, at the former San Lazaro racetrack in Tayuman which it has bought from the Manila Jockey Club; in Batangas, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Laguna and Lucena in Quezon. – Conrado Diaz Jr.