051207: Jollibee net income grows 18.2% to P531M in Jan-Mar

By Zinnia B. dela Peña
The Philippine Star 05/12/2007

Fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) said its net profit in the first quarter this year grew 18.2 percent to P531 million on the back of a 15 percent rise in revenues and the continued improvement in profit margins.

In a statement, JFC said system-wide sales, a measure of all sales to consumers both from company-owned and franchised stores, increased 13 percent to P11.7 billion from P10.35 billion a year earlier.

Total revenues amounted to P8.7 billion compared with P7.58 billion a year earlier. Operating profit likewise rose 22.3 percent, driven by an eight percent growth in operating margin.

"Overall, our Philippine stores achieved growth rates that were higher in the past two years. We attribute the strong growth to a recovery in consumer spending behind an improving economy and to our product launches and marketing campaigns. In our international business, store sales continued to rise remarkably in practically every foreign market and across all our brands. The consumers in our markets abroad are clearly responding to our continued efforet in improving our products, particularly in product tastes and our services," said JFC chairman and chief executive officer Tony Tan Caktiong.

For his part, JFC chief finance officer Ysmael Baysa said the improvement in margin was achieved despite investment spending in some brands and the slight increase in the cost of sales. "We are putting more advertising money in some brands as an investment for their long-term growth. Meanwhile, we have avoided price increases even as some costs had gone up slightly. We believed that this has helped spur the growth in sales volume. The last real price increase we implemented was in November 2005," he said.

The group opened a total of 24 stores in the first quarter: 23 in the Philippines (11 Jollibee, seven Chowking, three Greenwich, and two Red Ribbon) and an outlet in Brunei.

As of end-March this year, the group operates a total of 1,364 stores in the Philippines, led by Jollibee with 573, oriental fastfood chain Chowking (361), pizza and pasta unit Greenwich (236), Red Ribbon Bakeshop (157) and patisserie Delifrance (37).

The group has an additional 170 stores overseas including (103) Yonghe King in China, 11 Jollibee, 19 Red Ribbon and 11 Chowking in the US, six Chowking in Dubai, three Chowking in Indonesia, 16 Jollibee in other countries, and a Chun Sui Tang Tea House in China for a total of 1,534 stores worldwide.

 

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200705120702.htm