Jollibee net earnings up 15% to P3.72B in 2012

Jollibee Foods Corp.'s net earnings for 2012 reached P3.72 billion in 2012, a 15.1-percent rise from 2011 as it saw higher sales and opened new stores in the Philippines and abroad. Revenues rose 13.6 percent to P71.05 billion while all sales to consumers, both from company-owned and franchised stores, rose 12.3 percent. Domestic sales grew 10.3 percent while overseas sales improved 21.7 percent. System-wide sales grew in all regions, said JFC chairman and chief executive officer Tony Tan Caktiong, with China sales growing by 27.1 percent, Southeast Asia and Middle East business by 23.8 percent, Philippine sales by 10.3 percent and sales in the US by 9.2 percent. Last year also saw the closure of 14 stores in the US and 31 in China, a P371-million write-off that dampened the company's net income growth to 23.6 percent from what could have been a 27.6-percent rise. The JFC Group opened 223 new stores in 2012, including 88 overseas, bringing the total number of its outlets nationwide and worldwide to 2,628. This total includes 780 Jollibee, 465 Mang Inasal, 386 Chowking, 212 Red Ribbon, 202 Greenwich, and 29 Burger King branches in the Philippines. It also includes 27 Jollibee, 32 Red Ribbon, 19 Chowking and three Chow Fun outlets in the US; 65 Jollibee and 25 Chowking branches in the Middle East and the rest of Southeast Asia; and 297 Yonghe King, 46 Hong Zhuang Yuan and 40 San Pin Wang outlets in China. — BM, GMA News