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SM
Investments Corp. (SMIC) will further expand its retail
merchandising business this year to take advantage of
the industry’s steady growth.
In a
report to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), SMIC said
SM Department Stores would open three department stores
this year as part of its expansion plans.
SM
Department Stores serve as the core to SMIC’s retail
business. There are currently 31 stores nationwide. As
the top merchandise retailer in the country, its
objective is to maintain its leadership in the
marketplace, to be at the forefront of retail technology
and grow through consumer marketing and product
diversification.
Of the
31 stores, 15 are located in Metro Manila and 16 are in
the provinces. Of these, five department stores are
“stand-alone” stores and the remaining 26 are inside the
malls.
SM
Supermarkets and Hypermarkets will also expand business
this year with the addition of up to nine supermarkets
and two hypermarkets.
At
present, SMIC operates 29 supermarkets and 11
hypermarkets.
SMIC is
spending P2 billion this year to support the expansion
of its retail business.
Led by
tycoon Henry Sy, the company, whose shares are traded on
the Philippine Stock Exchange, has four core businesses,
namely, shopping-mall development and management, retail
merchandising, financial services and real-estate
development/tourism.
In 2007,
SMIC said its net profit rose 14 percent to P12.0
billion from P10.6 billion a year earlier and
consolidated revenues grew 38 percent to P122.5 billion.
The net
income profile of the company reflected equitized
earnings from SMIC’s banking subsidiaries BDO and China
Banking Corp., both of which accounted for 31 percent of
total group income. Shopping malls accounted for 30
percent of the group’s net income, while retail
merchandising and property development contributed 28
percent and 11 percent, respectively.
Of all
the units, retail merchandising contributed the largest
revenues accounting for 84 percent of the total.
Shopping malls, on the other hand, contributed 10
percent while real-estate accounted for 3 percent.
The
group’s mall development arm, SM Prime Holdings Inc.
reported a 10 percent growth in its 2007 net income to
P6 billion, as gross revenues of P15.3-billion increased
by 16 percent.
This
year, SM Prime intends to open three new malls and
expand two existing ones to the tune of capital
expenditure estimated at P6 billion. At the end of the
year, SM Prime will have 33 malls in the Philippines,
with a combined gross floor area of 4.1 million square
meters.
Meanwhile, BDO Unibank Inc., which represents the merged
Banco de Oro and Equitable PCIBank, posted a
consolidated net income of P6.5 billion for a 2.0
percent growth in 2007. China Bank, on the other hand,
reported a net income of P3.7 billion for the year or an
increase of 4 percent.
SMIC’s
real-estate operations, for its part, reported an 88-
percent increase in net income to P1.12 billion while
sales grew by 142 percent to P3.2 billion. Revenues and
profits were derived mainly from condominium projects of
SM Development Corp. |
