SAN Miguel Properties Inc. (SMPI), the listed property arm of San Miguel Corp. (SMC), said its net profit in 2007 rose 44 percent to P371 million from P257 million a year earlier driven by higher-rental income and lower-operating expenses.

In a report to the stock exchange, SMPI said rental income grew 8 percent to P475 million due to an increase in the occupancy rate of the San Miguel Property Centre building and leasing of the 38th floor of The Enterprise and the Sucat properties.

Deutsche Bank rents the 38th floor of the Enterprise and San Miguel Rengo Packaging Corp. the Sucat property.

“Leasing of real properties is still the primary source of income of the company, with its 94-percent share in the total revenues, while 6 percent is from the sale of residential projects,” SMPI stated.

The company’s financial results also gained from lower-operating expenses last year, which amounted to P134.9 million from P146.9 million the previous year. The reduction in manpower cost was a result of the manpower rationalization in 2006 and lower taxes and license fees from the sale of three floors of the Locsin Building.

SMPI, through subsidiaries Legacy Homes Inc. (LHI) and Excel Unified Land Resources Corp., have completed the development of most of their projects and are presently focusing on marketing the remaining inventories of their residential subdivisions.

The low-income housing projects that have been completed by LHI include the Buenavista Homes in Cebu and Villa de Calamba in Laguna. These subdivisions are strategically located in areas with a high concentration of migrant worker population that needs financially viable housing.

LHI has also completed its middle-income subdivision, Primavera Hills in Cebu. Likewise, it has completed the development of The Legacy in Parañaque City and Maravilla in Gen. Trias, Cavite—its middle-income subdivisions for those in the market for modestly priced executive homes.

Excel’s project, on the other hand, is the high-end Wedge Woods subdivision in Silang, Cavite.

SMPI, meanwhile, has leaseable commercial office spaces in Makati City, Mandaluyong City and Pasig City (Ortigas area), and industrial spaces and warehouses in Quezon City, Mandaluyong City, Parañaque City, Cavite and South Cotabato.

Last October, SMPI together with the San Miguel Corp. Retirement Plan, subscribed to the unissued shares of capital stock of Bank of Commerce. The subscription—equivalent to a 30-percent stake—is worth P1.7 billion.

JGSH Philippines Ltd., a wholly-owned offshore unit of JG Summit Holdings Inc., has secured a $300-million syndicated term-loan facility it will use to pay maturing obligations.

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SAN Miguel Properties Inc. (SMPI), the listed property arm of San Miguel Corp. (SMC), said its net profit in 2007 rose 44 percent to P371 million from P257 million a year earlier driven by higher-rental income and lower-operating expenses.

CLIENTS can now get the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor in systems from Hewlett-Packard (HP), processor maker ADVANCED Micro Devices (AMD) said in a statement.

THE Philippine Stock Exchange index fell 30.94, or 1.1 percent, to 2,824.81 at the close, its fourth day of losses. The measure is 27-percent down from its 3,873.50 record close on October 8.

The merger of Equitable PCI Bank and Banco de Oro Universal Bank, shortened to BDO Unibank, has opened up more shares to foreign funds. Prior to the merger, foreign ownership of BDO common shares had reached the 40-percent legal limit, which dropped to 17.72 percent as of June 30, 2007, a month after the merger took effect.