Jollibee nets P6.14B

Fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. grew its attributable net profit last year by 24.6 percent to P6.14 billion, driven by a double-digit growth in system-wide sales.

For the fourth quarter alone, attributable net profit surged by 63.7 percent year-on-year to P1.75 billion, Jollibee reported to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

System-wide sales rose by 14.1 percent for the full year to P149.14 billion. Sales likewise expanded by 14.1 percent year-on-year to P41.38 billion for the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter growth was driven by a 7-percent global store expansion and same-store sales growth of 7 percent. Same store sales refer to sales from restaurants already open for at least 15 months, excluding new store openings for better comparison.

“In 2016, we opened the most number of new stores in JFC’s history. This was made possible by improving the return on investments on our stores and by increasing our organization’s capability to build and open more stores in better locations and with better quality than ever before — on a worldwide basis,” said Jollibee chief executive officer Ernesto Tanmantiong.

“We also renovated 200 existing stores in the Philippines and 150 stores abroad,” he said.

Tanmantiong added that Jollibee had earmarked P14 billion in capital expenditures this year, mainly for new store expansion and renovation (P7.6 billion) alongside commissary investments (P5.6 billion).

“We look forward to continued strong profitable growth in the years ahead in the Philippines and abroad,” Tanmantiong said.

As of last yearend, Jollibee had 3,254 stores worldwide, of which 2,643 were in the Philippines. The group opened 340 stores last year, marking the largest footprint expansion in a single year.

For the fourth quarter alone, sales in the Philippines grew by 14 percent while foreign business likewise expanded by 14.5 percent, with China growing by 6 percent, US by 19.4 percent and Southeast Asia/Middle East by 33 percent. The foreign business grew at the fastest quarterly pace in the company’s history, driven by the recovery in China, particularly the Yonghe King noodle house chain which is its flagship business in this market.