Sy says SM stays hungry for growth

Bigger plans are in store for the Sy family's retail and mall business as the SM Group eyes to pursue aggressive expansion amid its insatiable hunger for growth.

- RICHMOND MERCURIO

Despite its current size, SM still feels small compared to retail giants abroad.

"This one is something that has been my guidance of why we are still very aggressive or very positive to continue growth. You know comparing ourselves internationally we're actually very, very small," SM Prime executive committee chairman Hans Sy said.

SM Retail, which posted sales of P196.9 billion in the first half, expanded by 355 stores during the first six months to bring its total retail network to 4,208 stores.

"Talking about retail business, you would say SM is very big. True. I looked into the figure, we did about $7 billion sales. That seems to be very big. But you know, compared to Walmart, Walmart is already about $800 billion. We are just not even one percent or we're just a little bit almost one percent," Sy said.