Posted on
January 06, 2013 09:48:10 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
By Franz J.
G. de la Fuente, Reporter
MALL
DEVELOPER SM Prime Holdings, Inc. is set to further expand its leasing
portfolio and open three mall projects in the Philippines this year -- two in
Metro Manila, one in north Luzon -- ahead of more mall launches next year, and
in line with the company’s upbeat outlook for 2013, a senior company official
said over the weekend.
SM PRIME Holdings,
Inc., which capped 2012 with the opening of SM City Congqing in China, does not
plan to open any new mall abroad this year.
“We’ll open one in Isabela, and then [SM]
Aura in Taguig [City]. We’ll also open the expansion building in [SM] Megamall,
which is almost equivalent to another mall. I think this will be an additional
of around 400,000 square meters (sq. m.). The Megamall expansion alone is close
to 100,000 sq. m.,” Jeffrey C. Lim, SM Prime executive vice-president and chief
financial officer, said in an interview last Saturday on the sidelines of the
National Finance Summit at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City when asked
about the company’s plans this year.
A MATTER OF
TIMING
While the
number of SM Prime’s new mall projects for 2013 is just about half of the
number of malls the Sy-led company launched last year, Mr. Lim said this was
simply a prelude to more mall openings next year.
“As you can
see, we will be opening even more malls in 2014, so it’s really more of our
timing. We’re just timing our openings,” Mr. Lim said when asked for the reason
for the lower number of malls his company has planned for this year.
“Last year,
we already opened five malls, six including China,” he noted, referring SM City
Olongapo in Zambales, SM City Consolacion in Cebu, SM City San Fernando in
Pampanga, SM City General Santos in South Cotabato and SM Lanang Premier in
Davao, which all opened in 2012, in addition to SM City Chongqing in China
which opened last month.
Mr. Lim
declined to identify the sites new malls the company has planned for 2014.
This year, SM
Prime expects to see brisk sales on the back of consumer spending and generally
better business conditions seen to be driven by factors like the mid-term
elections and progress in public-private partnership projects.
“Actually,
we’re optimistic about our operations this year. The economy should continue to
perform very well, and then you have the elections and the launching of PPP
projects,” Mr. Lim said while declining to elaborate.
Mr. Lim also
begged off from discussing SM Prime’s earnings last year.
“We will be
announcing the results soon. We’re still consolidating our numbers,” he said.
SM Prime grew
its net income by 15.79% to P7.70 billion as of September last year from P6.65
billion in the same nine months in 2011, driven by gains derived from new malls
opened in the last three years and higher sales from local and China malls.
In the same
comparative periods, revenues -- composed of rent, cinema ticket sales and
other income -- went up by 14.69% to P22.10 billion from P19.27 billion, while
costs and expenses rose by 14.58% to P10.45 billion from P9.12 billion.
SM Prime was
incorporated in 1994 to develop, conduct, operate, and maintain the SM group’s
commercial shopping centers and related businesses.
As of
end-2012, SM Prime counted 46 local malls and five China malls in its
portfolio, with a total combined gross floor area of 6.3 million sq. m.
Mr. Lim had
said in November last year that the company was earmarking a record P30 billion
in capital expenditures this year -- up 42.86% from last year’s P21-billion
budget -- P12 billion-P15 billion of which will be funded by local and foreign
debt.
Shares of SM
Prime closed at P16.70 apiece on Friday last week, unchanged from their
Thursday finish.
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