New branches boost Jollibee 9-month income

MANILA, Philippines–Jollibee Foods Corp., the country’s biggest food service company, said net income in the nine months through September rose 16.5 percent to P3.64 billion as sales increased and as the company opened more stores, a stock exchange filing showed on Thursday.

Jollibee also announced a plan to increase spending for 2015 to P9.1 billion, up 42 percent, mainly to expand in the Philippines and China.

Jollibee said revenues during the nine-month period rose 13.7 percent to P65.75 billion adding that systemwide sales, which include company-owned and franchised stores, increased 13.6 percent to P85.47 billion.

Jollibee also said net income in the third quarter alone was up 15 percent to P1.17 billion while revenues rose 11.6 percent to P22.05 billion.

Third-quarter systemwide sales, which grew 12.2 percent to P28.4 billion, were led by the 13-percent growth in the Philippine and 96 percent for the foreign business.

The growth was driven by a 7-percent to 8-percent same store sales growth and a 5.7-percent growth in store network.

The Jollibee Group had opened a total of 148 new stores in the first nine months of the year, of which 114 were in the Philippines and 34 were in foreign operations. Worldwide store network growth accelerated from 4.5 percent in September 2013, the company added.

As noted, Jollibee said capital spending next year will hit P9.1 billion against the estimated P6.3 billion spending this year.

Of this amount, P6.7 billion will be for the Philippines, P1.7 billion for China and the balance for the US and Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

“The 2015 capital expenditures will be mostly for the store openings in the Philippines and foreign operations, store renovations in the Philippines and abroad, investments in commissary construction and commissary capacity increase in the Philippines,” Jollibee said in its filing.