Крупнейшие торговые сети Филиппин тесно сотрудничают с государством для развития регионов

In the Philippines, as in virtually all of developing Southeast Asia, it’s sometimes hard to distinguish between government and the private sector. That observation owes much to the immense power and influence of leading conglomerates in the retail and property businesses, like SM Investments and Ayala Corporation. Even if you don’t like oligopolies, and most people don’t, they can be credited with providing the development skills and corporate balance sheets that have helped drive urban d urban development in the Philippines for decades. Now, again with the help of the government, or rather governments at all levels, they are turning their attention to the regions, which in the case of the Philippines are flung over three major island groups. SM Prime, the property arm of SM Investments and a listed company in its own right, thrives on public-private partnerships to open up new corridors for commercial and residential development. Being a mall developer, it also provides world-class real estate platforms for retailers, and in SM Prime’s case a lot of those retailers come from its own sibling company, SM Retail. Philippine consumers don’t think too much about oligopolies, they love malls, and consumer spending accounts for a staggering 75 per cent of the country’s GDP, higher even than for the spend-happy US. Much of it is fuelled by remittances back home from Filipinos abroad that get funnelled straight into the registers of the nation’s grateful retailers. Many of those retailers are operated by SM Retail either directly or via joint ventures, and many of them find a home in SM Prime’s vast mall network. And it is going to get better and better, because probably only about 40 per cent of retail spending in the Philippines is done in what we call “modern” retail facilities, so there is still phenomenal upside for the conglomerates as incomes rise. A bumper first half Business is booming already. SM Retail announced last week that in the first half of 2026 its retail business had revenues of 223.6 billion pesos (US$3.7 billion), an increase of 5.6 per cent on the first half of last year. That was despite the net addition of only six stores over the course of the year, bringing the combined store count for its portfolio of retail brands to 4,837. Same-store sales growth was 2.9 per cent. The company’s retail reporting is broken out into three segments: food, speciality and its 79-store department store chain, SM Store. Food accounts for about 60 per cent of total retail revenues, with the speciality and SM Store revenues roughly splitting the remainder. In the first half, food revenues from 2,824 points of sale rose by 6.1 per cent (same-store sales 3.3 per cent). Like other food retail operators in Asia, SM Retail’s formats cover the waterfront from small neighbourhood mini-supermarkets up to hypermarkets. Meanwhile, speciality revenues increased by 5.9 per cent (same-store 3.9 per cent) despite the net loss of 73 points of sale after some clip-and-clean around the edges of its portfolio. SM Store revenues rose by 3.2 per cent (same-store 1.2 per cent). For all three segments the productivity of floorspace rose. The company’s parent, SM Investments, refers to SM Retail’s model as “asset-light” because it doesn’t have to buy a lot of property, but instead leases space inside the malls of SM Prime. As the latter continues its regional expansion strategy to reach all parts of the island nation, SM Retail’s brands can follow it. No less than 80 per cent of the 490 new retail stores the company opened last year are outside of Greater Manila. Net income for SM Retail grew by 6.0 per cent year-on-year in the first half, to 8.9 billion pesos (US$270 million). SM primed It’s almost too good to be true: just as SM Retail can piggyback on the footprint of SM Prime malls, the latter can piggyback on the government’s regional development strategy, which emphasises investment outside the Manila metro area to geographically diversify growth and bring the poorer parts of the Philippines up to speed. This is much the same as the development strategy of Thailand’s government, which drives growth for its own powerful retail conglomerates like Central, CP All and Berli Jucker. And let’s not forget Vietnam, whose own regional investment strategy provides a gravy train for Vincom and Aeon. The SM companies are pretty good at what they do though. They have deep expertise in developing land parcels so large that they deserve to be called “cities” in their own right, requiring partnerships with government and other private companies with complementary expertise and skills in all kinds of property types: retail, residential, hotels, offices and convention centres. Perhaps the most ambitious project SM Prime has ever become involved in is now underway: this is Pasay 360, a massive 360ha land reclamation project in Manila Bay which, when completed, will be an extension of the company’s own Mall of Asia and a city in its own right with retail, residential, hotel and office buildings. As usual it is a joint venture with the local government and will take years to develop over a number of phases. The company generated revenues of 38.4 billion pesos (US$640 million) in the second quarter, an increase of 8.8 per cent on the previous year. This brought revenues for the first half to 71.7 billion pesos (US$1,200 million), up 5.3 per cent year-on-year. Net income was roughly flat with last year for both the quarter and the half. Just over 60 per cent of company revenues are derived from rent, and an additional 12 per cent from revenues associated with entertainment offerings at its properties, such as cinema tickets and bowling and ice-skating facilities. The revenues from this source increased by more than 10 per cent in the first half, notable because it reflects the company’s emphasis on making its malls and mixed-use projects truly experiential. By property segment, mall revenues are the lion’s share, generating nearly 60 per cent of the total, after enjoying strong growth during the first half. The company ended the half with 90 malls in the Philippines and nine in China. Corporate benevolence is part of the gig Partnering with the government on juicy development projects also involves being a do-gooder, and Philippine mall operators are helping the government and community activists solve local problems, such as environmental problems, loneliness, bad eating habits and other public health issues, and road safety. As these conglomerates become ever more deeply entrenched in the roles that were once thought the province of governments, it’s getting harder and harder to tell where the government ends and the private sector starts. Further reading: Why Simon Property Group’s malls are attracting more retailers