Jollibee ’13 profit up 24.5%

Local fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. grew its 2013 net profit by 24.5 percent year-on-year to P4.64 billion as sales from its restaurant network here and abroad expanded by a double-digit pace.

In the fourth quarter alone, JFC’s net profit rose by 20.3 percent year-on-year to P1.52 billion.

System-wide retail sales—a measure of consumer sales from company-owned and franchised stores—grew by 13.9 percent in the fourth quarter, and by 12.8 percent for the full year, to P28.87 billion and P104.1 billion, respectively.

The full-year retail sales growth marked the highest rate of rise in organic sales in six years and allowed JFC to breach the P100-billion mark for the first time, JFC chief operating officer and incoming chief executive officer Ernesto Tanmantiong said in a statement.

Apart from growing its sales volume and distribution network, JFC also unlocked higher margins by improving the operating efficiency of its growing store chain. Net income margin for 2013 increased to 5.8 percent from 5.2 percent the previous year.

JFC opened a total of 98 stores in the fourth quarter—the highest number opened in a single quarter in the company’s 35-year history. It ended 2013 with an international store network of 2,764, of which 2,181 are in the Philippines.

“Our progress in building the business has been taking place across our brands in different countries. In the years ahead, we look forward to further strengthening our brands and accelerating our profitable growth by keeping our intense focus on the fundamentals of our business for the benefit of our consumers: Superior product quality and taste, value, service, restaurant experience and store locations made possible by an even stronger JFC organization,” Tanmantiong said.

For 2014, Jollibee has earmarked P6.3 billion in capital spending. It will be used to open new stores and renovate old ones. The budget is higher than the P4.1 billion capital outlays in 2013, when the company opened 235 new stores.

In the fourth quarter of 2013, system-wide sales in the Philippines alone rose by 12.2 percent, while business grew by 19.2 percent in China, 17.2 percent in the United States, and 35.3 percent in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

In Southeast Asia, growth was led by Vietnam, where business rose by 40.2 percent.

Same store sales across its global network for the fourth quarter grew by 8-9 percent year-on-year on higher customer traffic and purchases per store.

With higher net profit last year, JFC’s return on equity improved to a 15-year high of 21.3 percent from the 18.3 percent seen in 2012.

Aside from the flagship Jollibee brand, JFC operates Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal and Burger King. In China, it operates the Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan and San Pin Wang chains. It likewise has a 50-percent stake in the joint venture operating Highlands Coffee (in Vietnam and the Philippines), Pho24 (in Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau and Cambodia) and 12 Sabu (China).