SM Investments Corp. (SMIC), the flagship investment holding firm of the Henry Sy Group, believes its shares are “significantly undervalued” considering the company’s strong financial performance and long-term growth potential.
In a recent interview with Channel News Asia, SMIC president and chief executive officer Frederic DyBuncio said the conglomerate’s presence in key sectors such as banking, real estate, retail, logistics, and renewable energy positions it to benefit directly from the country’s expanding economy and resilient consumer demand.
“The Philippines is a very consumer-driven economy,” DyBuncio said. “So, for SMIC…,on a daily basis, each consumer has a touch point on each of our businesses.”
SMIC reported a 6 percent increase in consolidated net income to P42.6 billion in the first half of the year, as total revenues also rose 6 percent to P319.2 billion—driven by strong performances across its retail and banking units.
With the domestic economy forecast to grow between 5.5 percent and 6 percent, and consumption remaining robust, DyBuncio said SMIC’s core businesses—malls, banking, and property—will maintain their growth trajectory.
“I can’t say that there is one that’s going to grow faster than the other,” he said. “Although our three core businesses of retail, property, and banking—they’re already very significant in their own way. So, the growth might continue to be there, but the growing sector for us is probably going to be the logistics and the renewable energy side of things.”
Despite this positive outlook, SMIC shares have underperformed over the past 12 months, hitting a 52-week low in April—even after announcing a P60-billion share buyback program in February. As of Friday, SMIC shares closed at P754.50, near the lower end of their 52-week range of P1,007 to P744.
So far, the company has only deployed P1.4 billion, or roughly 2.5 percent of the authorized buyback amount.
“As long as the country continues to grow, as long as people continue to spend—and we are a consumer-driven economy—our feeling is that our share price today is significantly undervalued given the potential we have moving forward,” DyBuncio said.
SMIC’s business empire includes The SM Store, SM Supermarket, SM Hypermarket, SaveMore, Waltermart, and Alfamart in retail; SM Prime Holdings Inc. in property; BDO Unibank Inc. and China Banking Corp. in banking; Belle Corp. in leisure and gaming; and 2GO Group Inc., Airspeed, and Goldilocks in logistics and consumer services.
