SM Prime Holdings Inc., the country’s largest operator of shopping malls owned by the Sy family, said its income nearly tripled in the first quarter of the year, as a result of gains from the sale of securities and new mall openings.
The company said in a statement that its income for the period reached P12.6 billion, or about three times more than its P4.69-billion income last year.
SM Prime said the increase was a result of the sale of marketable securities worth P7.4 billion during the period, without which its income just grew by 14 percent to P5.2 billion.
“There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic, with consumer spending getting a boost from lower oil prices and improved consumer confidence. The strong economy provides much motivation for us to expand and grow our business more aggressively to take advantage of new opportunities, particularly in the provincial areas. We can grow all areas of business, malls, residences, commercial and tourism-related developments together to achieve synergies,” SM Prime President Hans Sy said in a statement.
SM Prime’s rental revenues from retail and commercial spaces, which accounted for 57 percent of the consolidated revenues, grew 10 percent to P9.4 billion in the first quarter, from P8.6 billion last year.
The growth was led by the significant increase in rental revenues, primarily from the new malls that opened and the expansion of existing malls in 2013 and 2014. These were SM Aura Premier in Taguig, SM City BF in Parañaque, Mega Fashion Hall in SM Megamall in Mandaluyong, SM City Cauayan in Isabela and SM Center Angono in Rizal.
Combined, these new and expanded malls have a total gross floor area of 564,000 square meters. Growth was also partly driven by the company’s increasing office spaces. Aside from Two E-com Center in Pasay, SM Prime launched SM Cyberwest in Quezon City.
Meanwhile, same-store rental grew by 7 percent, sustaining the growth posted in 2014.
The mall’s cinemas generated lower ticket sales of P1 billion from P1.1 billion last year, as a result of the decrease in blockbuster movies shown in the first quarter of 2015 from last year.
Meanwhile, amusement and other revenues increased by 32 percent to P900 million in the quarter due to the strong patronage for amusement rides, especially the opening of Sky Ranch Pampanga.
Cinemas and amusements accounted for 11 percent of SM Prime’s consolidated revenues during the period.