Jollibee 6-month profit up; new CEO named

Thirty-five years after setting up the Jollibee group, founder Tony Tan Caktiong will step back from day-to-day operations and pass on the baton to his younger brother, Ernesto Tanmantiong.

Long being groomed to be Jollibee Food Corp.’s next chief executive, Tanmantiong, 55, will assume office effective July 1, 2014. Jollibee has announced the succession plan as Tan Caktiong officially became a senior citizen last month.

Tanmantiong is chief operating officer of Jollibee Philippines, a position he has held since 2012. He is credited for sustaining the group’s leadership in the local market and accelerating its overseas expansion.

The fast-food giant grew its six-month net profit attributable to equity holders of parent by 32.7 percent year-on-year to P2.1 billion as sales volume expanded and margins improved.

For the second quarter, alone, attributable net profit rose by 32.4 percent to P1.2 billion from a year ago. Annualized return-on-equity reached 19.2 percent, up from 15.8 percent in the second quarter of last year.

System-wide sales—sales of both company-owned and franchised stores—expanded by 13.6 percent year-on-year in the second quarter to P26.1 billion. This brought six-month sales to P49.9 billion, up 12.1 percent from a year ago.

Operating income margin improved to 7.8 percent in the second quarter from 6 percent a year ago as sales posted strong growth while cost of raw materials remained stable.

The Jollibee’s Philippine operations grew by 12.6 percent while overseas business expanded by 17.5 percent, with China growing by 18.3 percent, Southeast Asia and the Middle East by 34.8 percent and the United States by 6.3 percent.

“Our new products, improvement of existing products and consistency of our service quality while maintaining stable prices have increased the value of our products and services to our customers. These drive strong same-store sales growth in all our brands in the Philippines,” said Jollibee chief executive officer Tony Tan Caktiong.