LISTED holding firm SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) is optimistic about sustaining growth for the remaining months of the year due to increased consumer spending, according to its chairman.
“The growth will continue, especially that Christmas is coming. The latter part of the third quarter and the fourth quarter are the strong periods,” SMIC Chairman Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. said on the sidelines of a conference organized by the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines in Pasay City last week.
“The performance will continue to be very good. With the reopening of the economy, we have seen the recovery over the last year and a half. We think that given the continued growth of the economy, this would further support the continuing expansion in the operations of the SM group,” Mr. Tetangco added.
According to Mr. Tetangco, SMIC’s growth will still be led by its core businesses in the retail, banking, and property sectors.
“The three core businesses are all moving in the right direction,” Mr. Tetangco said.
Mr. Tetangco, who is a former central bank governor, said that one challenge for SMIC in the remaining months of the year is to mitigate the effects of surging inflation.
The country’s inflation rate accelerated to 6.1% in September from 5.3% in August due to a double-digit increase in rice prices.
“The challenge would be possibly how consumers would react to higher inflation. We remain sensitive to that and we look at how we can better serve our customers and our clients even in this period of prices moving up relatively faster,” Mr. Tetangco said.
“We are finding ways to address that and see what products and how these products can be brought to the market so that we can remain competitive and we can continue to come up with steps that would benefit our consumers,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mr. Tetangco said that SMIC is looking for opportunities to boost the company’s portfolio. He did not provide details.
Some of the company’s portfolio investments are in mining firm Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp., real estate developer Belle Corp., local bakeshop Goldilocks, and Philippine Geothermal Production Co.
“The idea is really to look for opportunities that we believe have potential so that we’ll have greater room for growth in the future. That strategy continues and we are always looking for opportunities that can be tapped, something that will be consistent with the overall approach and that will further enhance the ecosystem of the SM Group,” Mr. Tetangco said.
SMIC posted a 32% increase in its first-half net income to P36.5 billion compared with P27.7 billion last year on the back of higher revenues.
On Monday, shares of SMIC at the local bourse fell P3 or 0.36% to P830 each. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave