Jollibee's 1H income grows by over 30% on strong sales, new products

Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC), the country's largest fast-food chain operator, grew its second quarter earnings by over 30 percent on the back of strong sales and launch of new products.

 

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Tuesday, Jollibee said its net income attributable to equity holders rose by 32.4 percent to P1.2 billion in the second quarter from P915 million in the same period last year.

 

System-wide sales,a measure of Jollibee's sales to customers visiting company-owned and franchised stores, increased by 13.6 percent percent to P26.067 billion from last year's P22.949 billion.

 

Revenues went up 12.6 percent to P19.913 billion from P17.69 billion.

 

JFC chairman and chief executive officer Tony Tan Caktiong said the healthy performance took place in all of its brands here and abroad.

 

"Our new products, improvement of existing products and consistency of our service quality while maintaining stable prcises have increased the value of our products and services to our customers," he said.

 

Meanwhile, JFC chief financial officer said they plan to ramp up new store openings in the second semester.

 

"We have allotted P5.5 billion of capital expenditures for 2013, mostly for investments in new stores and in renovations and upgrade of existing stores. We look forward to a higher pace of new store openings in the second half of the year," he said.

 

In June, Baysa said more products across all brands will be rolled-out and new stores will be opened in the second half of the year. 

 

The food service giant declared a special cash dividend amounting to P2.00 per share to be paid in October 2013, double the special cash dividend paid in 2012.

 

As of end-June, Jollibbee operated the largest food service network in the Philippines with 2,102 stores including the flagship Jollibee (791), Chowking (388), Greenwich (198), Red Ribbon (234), Mang Inasal (461) and Burger King (30).

 

The company also had 569 stores abroad, including Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan, San Pin Wang and Chow Fun.

 

It also has a 50 percent interest in joint ventures for Highlands Coffee in Vietnam and Philippines (75); Pho 24 in Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Japan (60); and Sabu in China (3).

 

In a separate disclosure, the company's board approved the appointment of Ernesto Tanmantiong as president and CEO effective July 1, 2014.

 

Tan Caktiong, JFC's current chairman, CEO and president, will remain as chairman.

 

Tanmantiong has been with the company since 1978 as a store manager. He was appointed as president of Jollibee Business Unit in November 2006 and was then appointed as chief operating officer in January 2012.

 

He finished a business management degree from the Ateneo de Manila University and advanced management program at the Harvard Business School at Boston, Massachusetts.

 

"We are making the announcement one year early as part of our change management in the organization," Tan Caktiong said. — OMG, GMA News