SM Prime eyes 75 malls by 2018

MANILA, Philippines - The Sy family’s SM Prime Holdings, Inc.  is set to bring its mall network to 75 by 2018, with contracts for various locations across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao already sealed, its top official said.

“It’s already in the bag. As promised, we will have 75 malls by 2018. We’re very much on track…It’s all planned out,” said Hans Sy, president of SM Prime.

 He said preparations take time because there’s a lot of things that need to be done.

Three more malls are set to open in the remaining part of the year, two in Luzon and one in Cebu in the Visayas, Sy said.

In particular, SM is opening one in Sangandaan in Caloocan, SM Cabanatuan in Nueva Ecija and SM Seaside City Cebu.

 “We are going to open our Cabanatuan, Sangangdaan and in Cebu,” he said.

 SM Prime has at least 50 malls nationwide after opening its SM Center Angono in Rizal late last year.

 The mall empire aims to double to 100 its present number of malls across the country.

SM Prime opened its very first mall 30 years ago in North Edsa, Quezon City after it developed a vacant lot into a shopping center and turned it into one of its biggest malls.

 Aside from its Philippine malls, the company also operates five malls in China   By 2018, its malls in China will increase to nine.

Sy said the ongoing economic slowdown in China has not affected SM’s business.

“While there is a slowdown our focus is second tier and third tier cities which are doing well,” he said.

 For the residential projects in China, Sy said the company hopes to secure the permits by the end of the year.

“We are in the process of finalizing all our permits for residential this year,” he said.

He said the company remains on the lookout for opportunities that may arise as a result of the economic slump in China, such as lower real estate prices for its landbanking activities.

 Three of the company’s 50 malls have been counted as among the world’s 10 largest malls. These are SM North EDSA, SM Megamall and SM Mall of Asia, which have a combined gross floor area of 1.4 million square meters.

SM Prime officials earlier announced that it was earmarking P330 billion in the next four years or until 2018 to pursue expansion in the Philippines and China.

The company reported a 90 percent increase in its consolidated net income in the first half of the year, driven by higher rental revenues and new projects of its real estate business. Net profit rose to P18.7 billion from P9.8 billion in the same period last year.

Excluding one-time trading gains on the sale of marketable securities, SM Prime’s recurring income rose by 15 percent to P11.2 billion.