Robinsons Retail nets P1.37 B in first half

MANILA, Philippines—Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. posted a 45.5 percent increase in second-quarter net income to P806 million as net sales rose at a double-digit pace.

This brought total net income for the first half of the year to P1.37 billion, up by 26 percent from the same period last year, RRHI reported to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Taking out non-recurring items and non-core items, RRHI’s core earnings for the second quarter grew by 20.4 percent year-on-year to P766 million. This core income excluded interest income, equitized net earnings from the 40 percent stake in Robinsons Bank and unrealized forex gains/losses.

For the six-month period, core net earnings grew by 18 percent year-on-year to P1.3 billion. First semester net sales grew by 18.1 percent year-on-year to P36.98 billion from the sales contribution of 240 new stores, same store growth of 3.2 percent as well as contribution from newly acquired businesses such as six-store EZ Supermartket, three-store Jaynith supermarket chain, eight Shiseido and two Benefit cosmetics stores.

“Despite increasing competition, I am happy that we were able to sustain the strong same store sales growth for the period,” said RRHI president Robina Gokongwei-Pe.

“We have started to operate the stores of A.M. Buildings Depot this July, our entry into the big box segment of the hardware business,” she said.

Six-month cash flow based on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was up by 17.4 percent year-on-year to P2.45 billion with margin of 6.6 percent.

On Friday, RRHI was scheduled to open a new format in its food retail segment called “Robinsons Easymart,” a network of compact neighborhood grocery stores. Gokongwei-Pe said this was RRHI’s way of “addressing the convenience and accessibility needs of consumers with products at competitive prices.”

RRHI ended June with a total of 1,180 stores, up from 940 a year ago. The company said it was on track to end the year with 1,400 stores.