Henry Sy holding firm’s 9-mo income grows 14% to P16-B

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The strong performance of its banking, mall and retail units boosted the earnings of SM Investments Corp. (SMIC), the holding firm of the Philippines’ richest man Henry Sy, by 14% in the first 9 months of 2012.

In a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, November 8, SMIC reported its consolidated net income in January to September rose to P16.1 billion from P14.2 billion in the same months last year.

Its revenues also grew 13% to P157.9 billion from P139.2 billion in 2011.

“While SM’s financial performance is in part a reflection of a robust Philippine economy, it is equally a reflection of our continuing efforts to deliver value across our core businesses,” SM President Harley Sy said.

The banking business accounted for 36.1% of SMIC’s consolidated net income, followed by retail, which accounted for 25.8%. Malls and property development contributed 23.3% and 14.8%, respectively.

Sy is bullish about the prospects of the holding firm for the rest of the year as consumers begin to spend for the Christmas season.

“As we approach the last quarter of the year, which has traditionally been our strongest period, we are confident of achieving our full-year target,” he said. SMIC is targeting a 12% to 14% profit growth in 2012.

SMIC owns BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s largest bank by assets; SM Prime Holdings Inc., the country’s biggest mall developer and operator; SM Retail, which has department stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets nationwide; and SM Development Corp., builder of residential homes.

Below are details on how each unit performed during the period under review:

BDO

The bank posted a 38% rise in unaudited net income to P10.5 billion from P7.6 billion last year, on higher loans and trading gains.

Its gross customer loans rose 17% to P724 billion, leading to “an improvement in net interest income to P26.8 billion.”

It also booked a 23% growth in non-interest income to P18.9 billion, thanks to higher fee-based income of P10 billion and trading gains of P7 billion.

SM Prime

The mall developer recorded a consolidated net income of P7.4 billion, up 15% from P6.4 billion in 2011.

Revenues went up 15% year on year to P22.1 billion, of which P1.9 billion came from 4 malls in China. Revenues from the China operations represented a 27% year-on-year growth.

SM Retail

This division saw a 6.7% growth in net income to P4.1 billion, on the back of an 8.7% rise in sales to P110.8 billion.

For the first 9 months, SM Retail grew its number of stores by 25, consisting of 5 department stores, 4 SM Supermarkets, 4 SM Hypermarkets, and 12 SaveMore stores. As a result, the company how has a total of 193 stores nationwide.

SM Development

The residential property developer enjoyed a 5.7% expansion in earnings to P3.3 billion.

It attributed the growth to strong revenues from real estate sales, which amounted to P16.1 billion, up 42.7% from a year ago.

Majority of the units sold by SM Development came from the following projects:

• Shell Residences in the Mall of Asia Complex,
• Green Residences along Taft Avenue,
• Jazz Residences in Makati,
• Light Residences along EDSA,
• Sun Residences near the Welcome Rotunda in Quezon City, and
• Wind Residences in Tagaytay.

– Rappler.com