The Philippines’ shopping mall developer and operator SM Prime reported that its net income for the first six months grew by 15 per cent to 5.64 billion pesos (US$130.1 million).

Revenues for the January to June period expanded 14 per cent to 16.55 billion pesos from 14.57 billion pesos during the same period the past year.

New malls opened in 2012 and 2013 largely pushed rental revenues higher, add to that the higher contribution of SM’s China malls, says the company.

“SM Prime continues to deliver strong revenue growth affirming our positive outlook for 2013,” said SM Prime president Hans Sy.

“More importantly, the increasing patronage and support that SM Supermalls receive from its customers drive us to deliver better services and concepts that cater to the needs of everyone.”

In terms of gross revenues, the five malls in China contributed 1.39 billion pesos in 2013 or eight per cent of the total consolidated revenues. Likewise, in terms of rental revenues, the China operations contributed 10 per cent to SM Prime’s consolidated rental revenues.

SM Prime has 47 Supermalls in the Philippines as well as five Supermalls in cities of Xiamen, Jinjiang, Chengdu, Suzhou and Chongqing in China.

Early in the year, SM Prime opened SM Aura Premier in Taguig which is said to be one of the first civic centres in the country to be certified Gold under the US Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

By year end, SM Prime will have 48 malls in the Philippines and five in China with an estimated combined gross floor area of 7 million sqm.