Shoppers walk past a logo of the Philippines' largest shopping mall operator Shoe Mart (SM) in one of their stores in Manila. AFP Photo

MANILA, Philippines - SM Investments Corp. (SMIC), the holding company of the Philippines' richest man Henry Sy, recorded "higher-than-expected" earnings growth of 16.3% in 2012 as its core businesses delivered strong results.

SMIC said in a statement its net income amounted to P24.7 billion in 2012, better than the P21.2 billion profit it recorded in 2011.

Revenues also rose 12% to P223.9 billion from P199.9 billion the previous year.

SMIC owns top lender BDO Unibank Inc., mall developer SM Prime Holdings Inc., supermarket and hypermarket chains operator SM Retail, and property firm SM Development Corp. (SMDC), among others.

The company's banking group accounted for the biggest share of its net income with 34.4%. Retail operations came next with 28.1%, followed by malls (22.9%) and property development (14.6%).

Below are earnings of each SMIC unit:

• BDO - P14.3 billion net income in 2012, up 36% from 2011's P10.5 billion and exceeding P12.5 billion earnings target.
• SM Retail - P6.6 illion net income, up 12.5% from 2011. Sales jumped 7.6% to P159.5 billion.
• SM Prime - P10.5 billion net income, up 16% from 2011's P9.1 billion. Revenues rose 14% to P30.7 billion.
• SMDC - P4.9 billion net income, up 17.5% from 2011. Revenues from real estate sales grew 33% to P21.6 billion.

- Rappler.com