Wilcon Depot hits P887-M profit in 9 months

Newly listed home improvement and construction supplier Wilcon Depot Inc. (WDI) chalked up a net profit of P887 million in the period April to December last year.

There was no comparative year-on-year figure as WDI technically only began operations on April 1, 2016, when the retail business and assets were completely transferred from parent company Wilcon Corp., formerly Wilcon Builder’s Depot Inc.

“Our nine-month net sales reached P12.3 billion, 96.7 percent of which was generated by our depot format stores,” WDI chief financial officer Mark Andrew Belo said in a press statement on Wednesday.

WDI’s gross profit amounted to P3.3 billion for a gross margin of 26.8 percent while operating profit (or earnings before interest and tax) reached P1.04 billion for an operating margin of 8.5 percent.

Prior to the transfer of the retail operations to create WDI, Wilcon Corp. registered net sales of P3.7 billion and a net income of P269 million based on its audited statements for the three-month period ending March 31, 2016.

“Sales from our existing stores were augmented by the opening of two new stores in 2016, one in Molino, Cavite, in April and another in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, in September. These areas have seen remarkable growth in real estate development particularly in the horizontal housing segment, Wilcon’s natural market,” Belo said.

WDI debuted on the stock exchange under the ticker symbol “WLCON” on March 31, bringing to public hands about 34 percent of total issued and outstanding shares. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA