SM Investments earns 3.6% more in Q1

MANILA, Philippines – SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) said its consolidated net earnings rose 3.6 percent in the first quarter to P7 billion on higher revenues.

Revenues reached P69.8 billion, up seven percent year on year. Recurring net income grew 12 percent.

“We are pleased with SMIC’s strong underlying growth in the first quarter as consumer spending continued to be vibrant and sentiment about the Philippine economy remains strong. Our continuing efforts to improve efficiencies in all our businesses have also helped ensure solid earnings growth,” SMIC president Harley Sy said.

During the quarter, the property business accounted for 43 percent of SMIC’s consolidated net income, followed by banks at 36 percent and retail at 21 percent.

SM Prime Holdings reported a 12 percent growth in recurring net income to P5.8 billion as consolidated revenues rose 10 percent to P18.2 billion.

 The retail operations which comprise both food (SM Markets) and non-food (The SM STORE) reported a 16 percent rise in net income to P1.5 billion on the back of an eight percent increase in sales to P48.8 billion.

SM Retail had a total of 314 stores – 53 The SM STOREs, 45 SM Supermarkets, 44 SM Hypermarkets, 140 Savemore and 32 WalterMart stores – as of the end of the first quarter.

The group also opened two Cherry Foodarama grocery stores, which are now fully operational inside SM Cherry malls in Shaw and Congressional Avenue.

BDO Unibank posted a net income of P5.5 billion as core lending, deposit-taking and fee-generating businesses delivered solid numbers. Net interest income grew 17 percent to P15.5 billion, supported by the 15 percent jump in customer loans to P1.3 trillion and a 14 percent growth in deposits to P1.7 trillion.

Apart from retail and banking, SMIC also has interests in property.