SM posts P23B net income in H1, up 27%

SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) posted a net income of P23.0 billion in the first half of 2019, up 27% from P18.1 billion a year earlier on the back of strong contributions across its property, retail, and banking businesses.

In a statement on Wednesday, SMIC said its consolidated revenue stood at P233.7 billion, up 14% from P204.3 billion year-on-year.

“We delivered a strong first half, underpinned by remarkable bank earnings and robust residential take-up. Our retail business continues to do well and we are pleased with the rapid expansion of our minimart footprint through Alfamart,” SMIC president and CEO Frederic DyBuncio said.

Property unit accounted for 41% of the Sy-led conglomerate's bottom line, while banking and retail contributed 40% and 19%.

SM Retail saw its revenue grow by 13% to P169.8 billion, while its net income rose 10% to P6.3 billion. 

The retail group had a total of 2,600 stores, comprising 63 The SM Stores; 1,548 specialty stores; 57 SM Supermarkets; 52 SM Hypermarkets; 197 Savemore stores; 55 WalterMart stores and 628 Alfamart stores.

Property arm SM Prime Holdings reported a net income of P19.3 billion, up 16% as consolidated revenues increased 15% to P57.0 billion from P49.8 billion last year.

Mall revenues which consist of rentals, cinema and event ticket sales and amusement revenues, accounted for 55% of total revenues and rose 8% to P31.1 billion in the period.

Mall rental revenues alone grew 7% to P26.2 billion driven by the 7% same-mall-sales growth and rising contribution from newly-opened and expanded malls in 2018.

SM Prime has a total of 72 malls in the Philippines and seven in China with a gross floor plate of 9.7 million square meters as of June 2019.

SM Prime’s residential group accounted for 38% of total revenues. It recorded a 26% increase in revenues to P21.4 billion year-on-year.

Reservation sales of SM Development Corp. rose 20% to P41.5 billion in the first half.

The Commercial Properties Group and Hotels and Convention Centers posted a 13% increase in revenues to P4.6 billion.

BDO Unibank Inc. (BDO), meanwhile, posted a net income of P20.2 billion on strong recurring earnings from its core businesses, solid growth in fee income and normalization of trading and forex gains. 

Net interest income rose 24% to P56.9 billion. Customer loans grew 7% to P2.0 trillion on sustained double-digit growth in the consumer and middle market segments.

Total deposits increased 3% to P2.4 trillion on customers' shift to higher-yielding fixed income investments, primarily bank-issued bonds.

As of end-June 2019, total assets of SMIC grew 5% to P1.1 trillion. —LDF, GMA News