SMIC profit up 14% to P18.46 B

MANILA, Philippines - SM Investments Corp. (SMIC), controlled by the country’s richest man Henry Sy, grew its nine-month consolidated profit by 14 percent to P18.46 billion, powered by the group’s banking and mall businesses.

Groupwide revenues climbed 15 percent  to P183.1 billion in January to September while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization went up by 15 percent to P43.4 billion  for an EBITDA margin of 23.7 percent.

Given its sustained positive trajectory, SMIC president Harley T. Sy said the holding firm is on track to meet its income target for the year of at least a 12 to 14 percent growth.

“We are confident of ending the year on a high note, with our retail and mall businesses benefitting from increased consumer spending during the Christmas season. We remain highly positive on the country’s economic fundamentals and will push ahead with plans to expand our core businesses, especially now that we have obtained the SEC’s approval for us to merge our property businesses under SM Prime Holdings,” Sy said.

In the nine months to Septermber,  banks (through BDO Unibank and China Banking Corp.) accounted for the lion’s share of aggregate net income, contributing 48.6 percent to total. Mall development (through SM Prime Holdings) pumped in 20.4 percent followed by retail (SM Retail)  15.8 percent and property (SM Development Corp.) with 12.3 percent.

BDO maintained its solid performance as net earnings jumped 73 percent to P18.2 billion, driven by strong liquidity in the domestic financial system.

The group’s retail business, consisting of 233 stores, registered a net income of P4 billion on the back of a 13 percent rise in sales to P125 billion.  As of end-September, SM  Retail had 47 SM Department stores and 186 food stores, comprising 38 SM Supermarkets, 38 SM Hypermarkets, 89 Savemore stores, and 21 Walter Mart supermarkets.

For this quarter, the food group plans to open eight more stores as well as continue the refurbishment of existing ones and widen the range of products to better serve the needs of the consuming public.

SM Prime, which will hold most of the  property-related assets of the Sy family, reported a 14 percent rise in its net income in the first nine months to P8.43 billion as revenues continued to expand.