Metro fire barely dents Ayala revenue

CEBU, Philippines — The fire that Gaisano Metro Ayala early last year has barely caused a dent to Ayala Center Cebu’s revenue in 2018 posting a lease performance of P1.494 billion, which is nearly identical to 2017’s P1.495 billion.

The almost flat growth of the shopping mall is still a hit despite the shutdown of the eight-level department store of Gaisano Metro, including the supermarket.

In an interview with Cebu Holdings Inc., (CHI) president Aniceto V. Bisnar, Jr., yesterday on the sidelines of the company’s annual stockholder’s meeting, he said the absence of its anchor department store has also benefited the mall’s boutiques and shops, including Rustan’s department store as these businesses reported brisk sales for the year.

The good sales performance of shops like Rustan’s Department Store, and Rustan’s Supermarket within the mall has offset the supposedly revenue loss from one of its biggest lessees—Gaisano Metro.

Some restaurants however suffered from the absence of Gaisano Metro in Ayala Center, Bisnar added.

On the other hand, while Metro Retail Group owned by Vicsal Development Corporation is still re-building the burnt structure, Bisnar said ACC developer CHI had been giving the Metro Gaisano spaces within the mall to display their goods, either in the hallways, or in any vacant space.

Moreover, the opening of Gaisano Metro Supermarket late last year was also a good boost to the mall’s bottomline.

Aside from purely leasing revenue, shopping mall operators like CHI also gets a percentage of its tenants’ gross sales.

“Despite the Metro fire incident early 2018, foot traffic in our mall continued to be robust. Every day, around 97,000 persons, on average, visited Ayala Center Cebu last year,” Bisnar said. (FREEMAN)