Strong PH operations boost Jollibee income in first half

Fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. booked a 17.5-percent year-on-year growth in first semester net profit to P3.05 billion, led by the strong growth of its Philippine business.

For the second quarter alone, Jollibee’s net income attributable to parent equity holders also expanded by 17.2 percent year-on-year to P1.66 billion, the company reported to the Philippine Stock Exchange Tuesday.

Jollibee, Asia’s largest food service company, grew system-wide sales from company-owned and franchised stories by 14.9 percent in the first six months to P71.45 billion.

For the second quarter alone, sales rose by 15.1 percent year-on-year to P37.1 billion.

Sales growth in the Philippines accelerated to 17.9 percent in the second quarter, with all brands growing at a double-digit pace, outpacing the 3.7-percent sales growth from foreign businesses.

“Our Philippine business, which accounts for at least 80 percent of our worldwide sales, has been experiencing its strongest organic growth in many years.  We attribute this to continued improvement in product quality and value offering supported by focused marketing campaigns, store expansion and renovation, low inflation rate, healthy growth of the country’s economy and election-related spending.  All brands performed very well,” Jollibee chief executive officer Ernesto Tanmantiong said in a press statement.

On the other hand, Jollibee’s business abroad showed mixed results.

Business in Southeast Asia grew by 37 percent, led by Singapore with 56 percent and Vietnam with 49 percent growth. The Middle East rose by 17 percent and the United States increased by 11 percent.

“China’s sales decreased by 5.7 percent due to competitive pressure on Yonghe King, our largest brand there.  Our two established brands in China, Hong Zhuang Yuan and San Ping Wang, continued to perform strongly,” Tanmantiong said.

“We look forward to a recovery of our Yonghe King business in the months ahead with the launch of new products with high value and taste scores supported by strong marketing campaigns and continuously building a significant business in the People’s Republic of China and other parts of the world,” Tanmantiong added.

Total revenues for the six-month period rose by 13.7 percent year-on-year to P54.42 billion while revenues in the second quarter were up 14 percent to P28.32 billion.

As of end-June, Jollibee operated 3,183 restaurants worldwide, of which 2,528 are in the Philippines.

In the Philippines, its store count was distributed as follows: 939 for Jollibee, 457 for Chowking , 237 for Greenwich, 378 for Red Ribbon, 455 for Mang Inasal and 62 for Burger King.