Local 7-Eleven licensee bleeds P419.7M in 2020 due to pandemic

Philippine Seven Corp., the local licensee of 7-Eleven convenience stores in the country, bled financially in 2020 as it swung to a net loss from profitability in the prior amid a challenging economic situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, Philippine Seven reported a net loss of P419.7 million, a reversal from P1.44 billion net income posted in 2019.

The company said the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected sales as lockdown restrictions were imposed under different classifications of community quarantine.

It said that the sales of 7-Eleven stores in the office and school clusters were the most affected.

“We are not out of the woods, by any stretch. Our financial performance has been abysmal, and when our profit and growth numbers will return depend on not just the pandemic and how the Philippines navigates its end, but on how quickly our online and offline pivots take root, if at all,” said Philippine Seven president and CEO Jose Victor Paterno.

“In times like these, we believe it is better to look not at numbers and forecasts but instead at one’s position relative to others caught in the same fierce – and unpredictable – storm. In that regard, we take pride and confidence in a proactive pivot executed at speed (helped as it was by pre-work before the pandemic), relative to that of our more optimistic peers,” Paterno said.

The company ended 2020 with a nationwide store count of 2,978 stores.

There are 2,261 7-Eleven stores in Luzon, 1,010 of which are in Metro Manila, 432 in Visayas and 285 in Mindanao.

The franchised-stores accounted for 55% of the total, while the remaining 45% are corporate-owned.

“The past twelve months have been unprecedented in terms of hard and detailed work, big ambitions, and sheer determination to remake the company in the face of adversity,” Paterno said.—AOL, GMA News