SM Prime elects Tetangco, Berberabe as independent directors

MANILA, Philippines — SM Prime Holdings Inc., the real estate arm of the Sy Group, elected three new independent directors led by former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor Amando Tetangco Jr.

The two other independent directors are Darlene Berberabe and Carlitos Cruz. Together with Tetangco, they succeeded Jose Cuisia Jr. who was the lead independent director and vice chairman of the board, Gregorio Kilayko and Joselito Sibayan.

Cuisia, who also stepped down as vice chairman, thanked the late SM Group founder Henry “Tatang” Sy Sr. and acknowledged his children’s leadership qualities as well.

Sy’s eldest son and namesake Henry “Bigboy” Sy Jr. is the chairman of SM Prime, while his other sons Hans and Herbert Sy are also members of the board of directors.

Completing the new board are SM Prime president Jeffrey Lim and Jorge Mendiola, who were reelected.

During his message, Lim said COVID-19 disrupted SM Prime’s consistent yearly stellar growth led by its office and residential segments.

Core businesses are also slowly recovering from the contraction brought about by community quarantines, which were imposed since last year as a result of the COVID-19 global health pandemic.

SM Prime is setting aside P80 billion for capital expenditures this year as it continues to adapt to the changing business environment. It has stepped up its digital efforts to respond to the evolving needs of customers.

Last year, SM Prime reported a consolidated net income of P18 billion, down 52.7 percent as revenues declined by 30 percent to P81.9 billion.

Among the different business segments, SM Prime’s Philippine mall business reported P23.6 billion in revenues, down 59 percent from P57.8 billion in 2019, while SM Prime’s residential business, led by SM Development Corp. (SMDC), posted a six percent revenue increase to P46.5 billion.

The commercial properties business segment reported P4.8 billion revenues in 2020 as operating income reached P3.9 billion from the previous year’s P3.8 billion. Meanwhile, the company’s hotels and convention centers business segment recorded P1.6 billion revenues for the year 2020 as compared to P5.1 billion in 2019.

Article and Photo originally posted by Philippine Star last April 21, 2021 12:00am and written by Iris Gonzales.