Leading home improvement and construction supply retailer Wilcon Depot grew its first quarter net profit by 18.2 percent year-on-year to P484 million as sales volume and margins expanded despite the softer domestic economic growth for the period.
Total net sales grew by 21.9 percent year-on-year to P5.73 billion for the first quarter. About 7.9 percentage of the growth was contributed by comparable sales from old stores while new stores contributed 14 percentage of the top-line growth.
Sales from depot format stores, accounted for 96.1 percent of total net sales. This segment grew by 22.5 percent. Wilcon opened one new depot in Davao, its second branch in the city.
Meanwhile, Wilcon’s operating expenses rose by 20.8 percent year-on-year to P1.2 billion, largely due to increases in depreciation and amortization, manpower costs and utilities.
Wilcon spent P750 million for capital outlays in the first quarter, mostly for its continued expansion.
For the rest of the year, Wilcon is set to open six to seven more depots all over the country, after the two opened so far this year. Six of the existing branches are also being expanded along with the distribution centers in support of the expanding store network.