SM ramps up property, retail expansion in provinces

THE SM Store now has 63 outlets around the country.

SM INVESTMENTS Corp. (SMIC) continues to expand its residential, hotel, and retail offerings in the provinces, banking on regional economic growth.

In a presentation posted on its website Monday, the listed conglomerate said its residential arm SM Development Corp. (SMDC) currently has a land bank of 669 hectares outside Metro Manila. This is higher than the 503 hectares it had by the end of the first quarter.

Its land holdings in Metro Manila likewise increased to 91 hectares, from 79 in the first quarter.

SMDC has programmed to spend P44 billion to construct more residential projects in 2019, alongside the launch of 15,000 to 18,000 units.

Meanwhile, SM Retail, Inc. now operates 2,600 stores covering a gross saleable area of 2.93 million square meters (sq.m.). Of this, 43% are in Metro Manila, while 38% are in Luzon. The remaining 12% and six percent are in Visayas and Mindanao, respectively.

The company’s strategy is to put up more stores nationwide for faster market penetration and to promote regional growth. About 80% of the new stores it opens are outside Metro Manila.

SM Retail is divided into the food and non-food segments. The former includes supermarkets and hypermarkets, which are typically anchor tenants in SM malls. This also includes Savemore, which are mid-sized, stand-alone stores; Waltermart located in WalterMart Malls expanding in Luzon; and Alfamart, its mini-mart format which provides supermarket goods and prices in neighborhood locations.

The non-food retail segment consists of The SM Store, which now has a total of 63 stores covering 795,864 sq.m. of GSA. It serves as an anchor tenant in SM malls and offers a wide range of merchandise and price points for all customer segments.

On the other hand, its hotel arm looks to take advantage of the growing tourism opportunity in the country. It has a total of 1,961 rooms under its portfolio, less than half of which comes from the Park Inn brand located in Davao, Clark, Iloilo, and Quezon City.

SM Hotels is pursuing projects in San Fernando, Pampanga and SM Seaside City, Cebu.

“SM Hotel’s planned expansions will complement existing mall, commercial, and residential developments,” the company said.

SMIC’s net income attributable to the parent grew 27% to P23 billion in the first half of 2019, after revenues rose 14% to P233.7 billion.

Shares in SMIC climbed 1.65% or P16 to close at P987 each at the stock exchange on Tuesday. —Arra B. Francia