SM remains open to Colgate-Palmolive, Star Cinema despite pullout

SM investments Corp. (SMIC), the SM Group’s holding company, remains open to doing business with multinational company Colgate-Palmolive and Star Cinema of ABS-CBN even after both companies have pulled out their products. The parties are currently ironing out their differences, Robert Kwee, SM Hypermarkets executive vice president said while at the sidelines of SMIC’s media briefing. Earlier, personal care company Colgate-Palmolive and Star Cinema, the film production unit of ABS-CBN, have questioned the accounting of SM Malls regarding the sale of their products and movie tickets, respectively. ABS-CBN is a rival of GMA Network Inc., the indirect parent of GMANews.TV. Meanwhile, during the same briefing, SMIC said it is confident that it will even exceed its net income target owing to the better than expected results in the first half. The company’s 14 percent earnings growth – reaching P7.4 billion during the first six months this year – has prompted expectations that full-year profits will expand by 12 percent this year, Jose Sio, SMIC executive vice president and chief financial officer, told reporters on Thursday. SMIC is “fully-confident…[of]…exceeding the 12-percent growth target," Sio said on the sidelines of the SM Investments media briefing. Of its core businesses, retail merchandising contributed the most to the company's net income, accounting for 39 percent of the total. This was followed by shopping malls and banking with 27 percent and 22 percent, respectively. The contribution of SM's real estate business increased to 12 percent. - GMANews.TV