Banking units boost Q1 income of SMIC

SM Investments Corp. (SMIC), the holding firm of the Sy family, on Wednesday said its income for the first three months of the year grew 27 percent to P12 billion from last year’s P9.5 billion.

Consolidated revenues for the period grew at a slower pace of 16 percent to P112.1 billion from P96.9 billion a year ago, the company said.

“our financial performance in the first quarter showed continued recovery momentum with accelerating revenue and net income growth. As a group we are delivering pre-pandemic performance, with strong recovery continuing in our businesses that were hardest hit by the pandemic. While there are still headwinds from geopolitical risks, we continue to see consumer confidence gaining momentum,”

SMIC President and Ceo Frederic C. dybuncio said.

Banks accounted for 49 percent of SMIC’S consolidated net income, followed by property at 29 percent, retail at 16 percent and portfolio investments contributed 6 percent.

“our portfolio investments provide us good growth opportunities as we continue to look for further investments in high growth areas in the Philippines,” dybuncio said.

Growth in SMIC’S portfolio investments was led by Atlas Consolidated Mining and development Corp. whose income almost tripled to P1.22 billion, boosted by higher production and higher metal prices.

SM Retail’s income grew 61 percent to P2.6 billion from P1.6 billion last year.

Revenues rose 6 percent to P74.5 billion from last year’s P70 billion last year. overall retail revenues are already at 94 percent of pre-pandemic revenues, indicating pentup demand especially for non-food items since the fourth quarter of last year with the easing of alert levels, the company said.

Specialty stores performed well with revenues up 11 percent and net income higher by 52 percent, while food retail remained stable, reflective of underlying consumer resilience.

Bdo Unibank Inc. posted a 13-percent increase in net income to P11.7 billion in the first quarter, driven by the bank ’s core businesses, while China Banking Corp. recorded net profits of P4.9 billion, 37 percent more compared to the same period last year.