Published on Tuesday, 16 April 2013 23:00 [
malay.com.ph ]
Written by ALBERT CASTRO
SM Prime
Holdings, Inc. has set P88 billion in capital expenditure for the next three
years. Jeffrey Lim, SM Prime chief finance officer, said of the amount, P35 billion will be spent this year; P26
billion next year and P27 billion by 2014.
SM Prime officials
said the company expects to end the year with a gross floor area (GFA) of 6.9
million as it increases its portfolio of
malls in the Philippines and in China.
To be opened
this year are SM Aura Premier in Taguig, SM City BF Paranaque and the 101,000-square
meter expansion of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.
SM Prime said
profit in the first quarter of the year reached P2.79 billion, 15 percent
higher than the previous year’s P2.43 billion.
In the same
quarter, consolidated revenues reached
P7.83 billion, 11 percent higher than the P7.03 billion reported last year.
Rental
revenues accounted for 86 percent of the total amounting to P6.73 billion, 12
percent higher than the previous year’s P6.03billion.
The company
attributed the increase “largely to rentals from new SM Supermalls opened in
the past two years --- SM City Masinag, SM City Olongapo, SM City Consolacion,
SM City San Fernando, SM City General Santos, and SM Lanang Premier. These mall
have a GFA of 527,000 square meters.
Same-store
rental growth was at 7 percent.
Earnings
before tax and other accounting adjustments (EBITDA) stood at P5.34 billion for
an EBITDA margin of 68 percent.
“SM Prime’s
performance for the first three months of the year sets an optimistic tone for
2013. We expect to sustain this growth trend for the next quarter as consumer
spending gets a boost from election spending. Moreover, we will push through
with our expansion plans given the positive economic outlook,” said Hans T. Sy,
SM Prime president. SM Prime said its five China malls contributed 9 percent of
the total revenues at P690 million, while contributing 10 percent of the
company’s consolidated rental revenues.
“Gross
revenues of the five malls in China increased 11 percent in 2013 compared to
2012 largely due to improved mall productivity and lease renewals for the first three malls opened namely SM Xiamen, SM
Jinjiang, and SM Chengdu,” SM Prime said.
The first
three malls currently have an average occupancy rate of 96 percent.
SM Prime also
said cinema ticket sales increased by 8 percent at P760 million from P700
million last year, driven by “more blockbuster movies and fully operational
digital cinemas which enable a simultaneous release nationwide.”
SM Prime
currently has 46 six supermalls in the Philippines with a total GFA of 5.6
million sq.m. In China, it has 800,000 sq.m. of GFA for all five malls.
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