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By Likha C. Cuevas, Reporter
SM Prime Holdings Inc. said
profits this year are poised to grow by double digits, as the
Philippines’ largest mall developer and operator saw first-quarter
revenues rising by a quarter.
Hans Sy, SM Prime president, said
full-year earnings may grow by 12 percent to 13 percent, adding the
company would ride on the business process outsourcing (BPO)
industry’s expansion outside Metro Manila and put up more shopping
centers.
Sy said the company is earmarking
P35 billion in capital expenditures for the expansion of its
existing malls and construction of new ones nationwide. About half
of the budget would be financed through internally generated funds,
he said.
With that amount, SM Prime
expects to have 35 to 40 malls. Sy said SM Prime would be acquiring
land in Metro Manila, but is not discounting potential sites outside
the capital.
About 60 percent of SM Prime’s
revenues come from its mall operations.
With BPO firms moving out of
Metro Manila to other provincial centers, the company may seize the
opportunity of getting business out of the geographical expansion of
the booming industry, Sy said.
“It depends really on the
opportunity. Much of the locators have come to us showing interest
in our provincial malls,” he said.
In addition, SM Prime may also tap the vast business potential
of rising remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFW) as people
in the provinces now have the purchasing power on which the retail
business depends.
The company is also on the look
out for existing shopping centers to acquire in and outside the
capital, Jeffrey C. Lim, SM Prime executive vice-president said,
adding the company received a lot of offers from different groups.
SM Prime will spend P7 billion
for a number of projects to include the construction of a
planetarium within a science museum inside the SM Mall of Asia in
Pasay City, and the expansion of the SM North Edsa.
The development of the
3,000-square-meter museum and planetarium would cost P250 million,
and would tap the expertise of a foreign group that developed
similar facilities in the US. SM Prime expects to complete the
educational facility by the end of this year.
SM North Edsa is undergoing
expansion at a cost of P1.8 billion, with the company poised to
demolish the existing Annex building to give way to a bigger
facility.
For next year, the company will
open new malls in the cities of Tarlac, Naga, Calamba, Baliwag and
Marikina.
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