SMIC profit hits P32.9 B

MANILA, Philippines — SM Investments Corp. reported a six percent rise in net income to P32.9 billion last year as its core businesses continued to grow amid the economy’s strong growth momentum.

SM president Frederic DyBuncio said the company’s expansion plans also boosted growth.

“Our core businesses continued to deliver strong results in 2017 with recurring net income growth of nine percent, driven by overall growth in the economy and our nationwide expansion plans. Our property and specialty retail businesses delivered particularly strong results. During the year SM made substantial investments in its banks and in new business opportunities, which we expect to contribute to higher earnings growth in future years,” DyBuncio said.

SM’s businesses are banking, retail, property as well as tourism related developments.

The conglomerate registered P396.1 billion in revenues, nine percent higher than the previous year.

Among the different business segments, property accounted for 40 percent of total earnings, with banks accounting for 38 percent and retail 22 percent.

Retail operations through The SM Store and SM Markets reported a net income of P10.4 billion as revenues grew seven percent to P297.4 billion.

DyBuncio said the underlying performance of the retail operations remained good, led by strong growth in our higher margin specialty retailing and with the addition of the successful Miniso variety store chain during the year.

 As of the end of December last year, SM Retail had 2,032 outlets, comprising 59 The SM Stores, 1,299 specialty retail outlets, 52 SM Supermarkets, 47 SM Hypermarkets, and 181 Savemore, 46 WalterMart and 348 Alfamart stores.  A total of 341 outlets were added in 2017 across the retail business portfolio.

 For the property business, SM Prime Holdings Inc. said its recurring net income grew 16 percent to P27.6 billion, driven by the increase in rental revenue from malls as well as the strong sales take-up of housing units.