Jollibee profit grows 14.2% as overseas stores create buzz

Homegrown fast food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. posted a 14.2-percent year-on-year growth in attributable net profit to P3.49 billion in the first half of the year, thanks to higher revenues across the group’s expanding store network, especially its overseas ventures.

For the second quarter alone, net profit grew by 18.1 percent year-on-year to P1.96 billion, the largest food service company in Asia said in a regulatory filing on Monday.

System-wide sales, or those from company-owned and franchised stores, grew by 14.7 percent year-on-year in the second quarter to P42.54 billion. This brought six-month sales to P81.08 billion, up by 13.5 percent compared to last year.

System-wide sales in all regions performed strongly in the second quarter, led by the Southeast Asian operations which grew by 42 percent.

North America business expanded by 32.5 percent while the Middle East operations expanded by 32 percent. China business grew by 17.2 percent while the Philippine business grew by 12.5 percent.

Overall, foreign businesses grew by 25.6 percent, excluding the impact of 2016 divestments and the consolidation of Vietnam-based SuperFoods group starting May 2017. Including SuperFoods and other divestments, foreign business grew by 24.3 percent.

All foreign regions also generated significantly higher profits than last year.

As of end-June, Jollibee already has 3,570 stores across the globe, of which 2,701 restaurants are located in the Philippines across brands like Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal and Burger King.