SM Investments expects single-digit growth this year

Sy-led conglomerate SM Investments Corp. expects to keep growing this year, albeit in single-digit terms, the company said Wednesday.

"For this year we will have a single-digit growth. How much is that? We still have to monitor this thing as we go along," newly-appointed chair Jose T. Sio told reporters in a briefing in Pasay City.

Net income grew by 8 percent last year, mainly on better results of the property business which accounted for 39 percent of total earnings.

Senior Vice President Franklin Chan Gomez expects the property business to remain as major growth driver. "Property will continue to be the biggest contributor," he told reporters.

SM Prime Holdings contributed almost 40 percent to the company's bottom line last year. The unit ended 2016 with 60 malls in the Philippines and seven in China, as well as 43 residential projects.

SM Prime on Tuesday said it allocated P50 billion a year to capital spending, starting this year until 2018, to support its development goals.

Shares of SMIC closed Wednesday at P731.00 apiece, up P4.00 or 0.55 percent from P727.00 Tuesday. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News