SM Investments posts P32.9-B net income

MANILA -- Conglomerate SM Investments Corp. (SM) on Wednesday said its net profit surged by 6 percent in 2017, led by robust earnings of its property and banking businesses.

SM told the local bourse its net income reached PHP32.9 billion last year from PHP31.2 billion the previous year.

Consolidated revenues rose 9 percent to PHP396.1 billion from PHP363.4 billion last year.

“Our core businesses continued to deliver strong results in 2017 with recurring net income growth of 9 percent, driven by overall growth in the economy and our nationwide expansion plans. Our property and specialty retail businesses delivered particularly strong results,” said SM President Frederic C. DyBuncio.

Property accounted for 40 percent of total earnings, with banks comprising 38 percent and retail 22 percent.

SM Prime Holdings, Inc., SM’s property holding firm, posted a recurring net income growth of 16 percent last year to PHP27.6 billion from PHP23.8 billion of prior year, driven by the increase in rental revenue from malls as well as the strong sales take-up of housing units.

At yearend, SM Prime has 67 shopping malls in the Philippines and seven in China.

The residential group, led by SM Development Corp. (SMDC), posted consolidated revenues of PHP30 billion, up 18 percent from PHP25.4 billion in 2016.

The rest of SM Prime’s businesses registered revenue growth of 32 percent to PHP7.9 billion from PHP6 billion.

BDO Unibank, Inc. (BDO) posted a net income of PHP28.1 billion in 2017 from PHP26.1 billion the previous year on strong growth across all business segments.

China Banking Corporation (China Bank), meanwhile, reported net income growth of 15 percent to PHP7.4 billion from PHP6.45 billion, on the back of sustained growth in core and fee-based businesses.

“During the year, SM made substantial investments in its banks and in new business opportunities, which we expect to contribute to higher earnings growth in future years,” said DyBuncio.

SM said operations under SM Retail Inc., which consist of non-food (THE SM STORE and specialty stores) and food stores (SM Markets), reported net income of PHP10.4 billion from PHP10.6 billion.

At end-December 2017, SM Retail had a total of 2,032 outlets, comprising 59 THE SM STORES, 1,299 specialty retail outlets, 52 SM Supermarkets, 47 SM Hypermarkets, and 181 Savemore, 46 WalterMart and 348 Alfamart stores.

A total of 341 outlets were added in 2017 across the retail business portfolio. (PNA)