Jollibee says election spending helped Q1 income grow by a third

Jollibee Foods Corp., the country's largest fast-food chain operator, saw its first quarter earnings grow by a third on the back of strong sales. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Jollibee said its net income attributable to equity holders rose by 33 percent to P894.7 million in the first quarter from P672 million in the same period last year. "In the Philippines, practically all same-store sales growth came from increased volume from higher consumer visits," chief executive officer Tony Tan Caktiong said. "The stable commodity prices and low inflation rates allowed us to avoid price increases while continuously improving our product menu, taste and quality. The healthy growth of the economy and the election spending also contributed to our strong sales performance," he added. System-wide sales—a measure of Jollibee's sales to customers visiting company-owned and franchised stores—increased 11 percent to P23.837 billion from last year's P21.554 billion. Revenues went up 10 percent to P18.155 billion from P16.486 billion. The fast-food giant, meanwhile, said it wants to spend P5 billion for expansion, 73 percent of which will be used for investments in new stores and renovation of existing ones. "Our planned network expansion in 2013, along with strong same stores sales performance should enable us to achieve healthy sales growth both in the Philippines and abroad for the balance of the year," said Ysmael Baysa, Jollibee chief financial officer. As of end-March, Jollibbee operated the largest food service network in the Philippines with 2,090 stores including the flagship Jollibee (783), Chowking (389), Greenwich (197), Red Ribbon (228), Mang Inasal (464) and Burger King (29). The company also had 562 stores abroad, including Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan, San Pin Wang and Chow Fun. — SOA/VS, GMA News