SM Prime clears P2.857 B in 1999

SM Prime Holdings Inc., the Philippines' blue-chip company focused on shopping mall chain ownership, development and operation, posted a net income of P2.857 billion in 1999, compared to P2.719 billion in 1998.

This growth was borne out of revenues of P5.4 billion in 1999 which grew seven percent from P5 billion in 1998. Of total revenues, rental revenues showed a noteworthy increase of 13 percent from P3.7 billion to P4.2 billion. Income from operations increased by 14 percent to P3.5 billion in 1999 from the previous year's P3 billion.

The company achieved these positive results in the face of the lingering effects of the Asian financial crisis and the country's economic difficulties. For this, SM Prime was once again named in 1999 "The Best Managed Company of the Philippines," by Euromoney, the UK-based publication and acknowledged journal of the world's capital and money markets, in its latest survey on Asia's Best Companies (December 1999).

SM Prime was also named. "The Best Philippine Company in Overall Strategy and Reliable Forecasting" in another survey (December 1999/January 2000) by Asiamoney, a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Euromoney. This is the third consecutive year that institutional investors and fund managers worldwide have cited SM Prime the best managed company in the Philippines in various surveys.

Presently SM Prime has eight operating malls with a total gross floor area of 1.4 million square meters. In June 1999, SM City-Iloilo with a gross floor area of 106,500 square meters was opened. As of end of February 2000, its mall space was already 92 percent lease-awarded, a highly satisfactory take-up rate.

SM Prime, long guided by its vision of the prospects of the new retail trade-liberalized environment, is steadily forging on with its strategic plans. It is currently in the final stages of constructing the SM City-Manila, a mall in the heart of Manila. This ninth mall of SM Prime is planned for opening in April 2000, adding 170,000 square meters of mall space.

The tenth mall, this time in Pampanga, is in the middle of construction and is targeted for opening before the end of the year 2000. Four other mall construction sites have been identified for development this year with varying years of completion in the next three years. In addition, the management of SM Prime is also planning on other possible sites for mall development.

The company maintains a web site at www.smprime.com.ph.