Jollibee slowly recovering from COVID-19, narrowed loss in Q3

Fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) narrowed its net loss in the third quarter as operations in the Philippines, China and United States better adjus­ted to the coronavirus pande­mic that has continued to wreak havoc on the global economy.

JFC’s third quarter net loss attributable to equity holders of the parent company amounted to P1.6 billion compared to the net profit of P1.67 billion in the same period last year. However, this was a significant improvement from the net loss of P10.2 billion in the second quarter, which inclu­ded a significant provision for its business restructuring program.

Ernesto Tanmantiong, JFC chief executive officer, said: “Our business is recovering from the pandemic in different parts of the world, some faster than others. This is made possible by the resilience and hard work of our people and business partners, the strength of our brands and in cooperation with the communities and government agencies where we do business.”

Despite the heavy impact of the pandemic on the business, JFC has been generating positive cash flow since June. The company expects its cash flow to keep rising for the balance of the year.

“We are now focusing our effort on rebuilding the business in a changed environment. While the negative impact of the crisis is still affecting us, as we reopen stores, we are introducing new products, resuming strong marketing campaigns, strengthening our systems and infrastructure particularly for digital connections with our customers and for off-premise consumption of our products and opening of new stores mostly in our international business. We are now crafting our operating plans for 2021 and the years ahead,” Tanmantiong added.

For the nine-month period, JFC incurred a net loss of P13.54 billion, a reversal of the P4.17-billion net profit in the same period last year. Because of the lingering pandemic that resulted in lockdowns, store closures and weaker consumer spending, JFC has turned unprofitable for the first time in 19 years.

A total of 339 stores were permanently closed in the first nine months of 2020 as part of JFC’s global restructuring amid challenging business conditions: 118 in the Philippines and 221 abroad. However, 180 new stores were also opened, mostly in the early part of the year: 48 in the Philippines and 132 abroad.

Systemwide sales of JFC, a measure of all sales to consumers, both from company-owned and franchised stores, decreased by 29.2 percent year-on-year to P40.6 billion in the third quarter while revenues fell by 30.6 percent to P30 billion as the pandemic gnawed on its businesses.

Nine-month systemwide sales fell by 26.1 percent to P126.42 billion, while revenues dropped to P92.73 billion.—DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA INQ