7-Eleven eyes continued PH growth tack

The country’s leading convenience store operator Philippine Seven Corp. expects to sustain a 25-percent annual growth in store network without spinning out of control, thereby doubling its retailing footprint every three years.

In the first semester, the local licensee of 7-Eleven convenience stores in the Philippines ended with 1,121 stores, 25.5 percent more than its network in the same period last year.

PSC president Jose Victor Paterno said the 25-percent growth could be sustained as long as the domestic economy was on the current growth trajectory.

“We believe 25 percent growth is sufficient to protect share in the rapidly expanding market should current economic trends continue,” Paterno said, adding that no chain abroad seemed to have managed to grow above this rate for a sustained period, likely due to operational constraints.

“It is the maximal rate that can be financed with internally generated funds, given current levels of profitability, franchise ratios and reinvestment in existing stores,” he said. Doris C. Dumlao