Property giant SM Prime Holdings, Inc. expects to sustain its strong growth as it further increases its mall footprint.
The company will open SM Seaside City Cebu, its third mall in Metro Cebu and 55th nationwide, on Nov. 27.
“We are excited to launch SM Seaside Cebu later this year, a landmark project in the Visayas region. We see Metro Cebu as one of our important growth corridors following our growth track in Metro Manila,” SM Prime president Hans T. Sy said in a statement yesterday.
Other SM malls in Metro Cebu are SM City Cebu and SM Consolacion.
Hans Sy, SM Prime Holdings president, and Marissa Fernan (left), SM Prime Holdings vice president, check out the scale model of SM Seaside City Cebu during a preview for its tenants last June.
SM Seaside, a circular mall that will be SM’s 4th biggest, will open at the South Road Properties (SRP), a 300-hectare greenfield development of the Cebu City government.
As of September, Sy said the company has spent around P7.5 billion in the project. The mall is part of the SM Seaside Complex, a 30-hectare development that is proposed to include an indoor arena.
Other SM Prime investments in Cebu include the P10-billion acquisition of a 26-hectare property at the SRP together with Ayala Land, Inc. and Cebu Holdings, Inc. as well as the proposed operation, through subsidiary Premier Southern Corp., of 77 My Bus units to serve routes passing through SRP. The company has also proposed a 1,500-hectare reclamation project in the foreshore of Cordova town, Mactan Island.
SM Prime yesterday reported a 70-percent surge in its consolidated net income to P22.9 billion as of September this year.
In a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the company said this included the P7.4-billion one-time trading gains on marketable securities booked in the first quarter of the year.
On a recurring basis, net income increased by 15 percent to P15.5 billion in the same period. Recurring income growth for the third quarter was P4.2 billion, up 15 percent over the third quarter in 2014.
Sy said the company’s expansion across all business portfolios drove its strong financial performance.
The company reported a 9-percent increase in consolidated revenues or P52.2 billion as of September.
About half, or 56 percent, came from rentals which increased 11 percent to P29.4 billion for the period because of rising contribution from the new malls and expansion of existing malls.
Real estate sales from SM Development Corp. projects, which accounted for 32 percent of the consolidated revenues, grew by 4 percent to P16.6 billion.
Meanwhile, cinema and event ticket sales, which accounted for 6.5 percent of consolidated revenues, registered a growth of 4 percent in the first nine months to P3.4 billion.
Other revenues, composed of amusement income from rides, bowling and ice skating operations, merchandise sales from snack-bars and sale of food and beverages in hotels stood at P2.8 billion, up 30 percent.