By James A. Loyola
SM Investments Corporation (SM), the flagship of the Sy family, reported a 10 percent improvement in consolidated net income to P8.5 billion in the first quarter of 2018 from P7.7 billion in the same period last year.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said its consolidated revenues rose 11 percent to P95.0 billion from P85.4 billion in the same quarter of 2017.
“We continue to build on our strong 2017 performance with revenues rising faster in the first quarter this year. Looking ahead we remain cautiously optimistic about underlying consumption trends despite inflationary pressures,” SM President Frederic C. DyBuncio said.
For the first quarter, property accounted for 46 percent of SM’s consolidated net income, followed by banks at 32 percent and retail at 22 percent.
Retail operations under SM Retail Inc., which consist of both food (SM Markets) and non-food (THE SM STORE and Specialty Retail),reported growth in total sales of 10 percent to R67.4 billion in the first quarter, while net income rose 14 percent to P2.6 billion.
Revenues from SM Retail’s specialty retail stores grew 16 percent to P17.4 billion, in part driven by expansion and new formats such as Miniso, which has 48 stores at the end of the first quarter.
SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SM Prime) reported overall net income growth of 15 percent in the first quarter to P7.6 billion. Consolidated revenues rose 14 percent to P23.4 billion in the first quarter.
The mall business, which accounted for 59 percent of consolidated revenues, grew 10 percent to P13.9 billion while revenues for the residential group, led by SM Development Corporation (SMDC), increased 25 percent to P7.5 billion in the period and accounted for 32 percent of total revenues.
For the first quarter of 2018, BDO Unibank posted a net income of P5.9 billion, steady from the year-ago level while China Banking Corporation (China Bank) reported its net income grew 2 percent to P1.5 billion in the first quarter.