Conglomerate SM Investments Corp. said Wednesday nine-month net income declined 54 percent to P15.2 billion from P33.1 billion in the same period last year as the group’s mall and banking businesses continued to reel from the effect of the pandemic.
SMIC said in a disclosure to the stock exchange revenues in the first nine months reached P286.7 billion, down 18 percent from P350.7 billion a year earlier.
The company, however, said it began see some pockets of recovery in the third quarter when revenues climbed 36 percent to P101.1 billion from P74.4 billion in the second quarter.
Banking accounted for 50 percent of the conglomerate’s reported net earnings from core businesses, followed by property at 41 percent and retail at 9 percent.
“We are encouraged by marked improvements in our results quarter-on-quarter as we saw renewed consumer activity. We remain watchful of underlying demand as we continue to face headwinds in the economy in areas such as employment and remittances,” SMIC president Frederic DyBuncio said.
“In aid of reviving economic activity, SM has undertaken many programs for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises across the group such as through marketing campaign support and by waiving fees to help our MSMEs sustain their operations as well as credit support and improved cash access to our many banking clients across the country,” he said.
The group’s retail business under SM Retail registered a 73-percent decline in net income to P2.2 billion as revenues went down by 15 percent to P216.3 billion.
Food retail posted an 11-percent growth in revenues, with convenience store chain Alfamart posting an increase of 27 percent in revenues.
The company noted marked improvement in third-quarter revenues for the department store business under SM Store and specialty stores. Revenues of the SM Store improved 109 percent to P10.5 billion in the third quarter from the second quarter while specialty stores showed improved revenues of P14.2 billion in the third quarter, up 93 percent from the second quarter.
The group’s property unit SM Prime Holdings Inc. reported a 48-percent decline in nine-month consolidated net income to P14.4 billion.
Net income of BDO Unibank also went down by 48 percent to P16.6 billion in the first nine months because of the large upfront provisions booked in the second quarter in anticipation of potential delinquencies due to the pandemic.
SMIC recently raised P10 billion from the issuance of fixed-rate bonds. It also enrolled P5.6 billion worth of fixed-rate notes due 2022 with Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.
