MerryMart to build branches in Ayala Land estates

As part of an expansion plan, MerryMart Consumer Corp. inked on Thursday a 15-year lease agreement with Ayala Land Inc. to establish standalone supermarkets in the latter’s Laguna and Tarlac estates.

The supermarkets, which will include a full line of grocery, pharmacy, personal care and other basic and essential product services, are located in Nuvali, Sta. Rosa, Laguna and Cresendo, Tarlac.

The Nuvali branch will have 2,621.21 square meters (sqm) of retail space while the Cresendo branch will have 2,076.90 sqm.

MerryMart envisions the branches as eco-friendly as these would have solar roof panels, LED lighting fixtures, bicycle slots and electric car charging provisions.

1,200 stores by 2030

“The MerryMart Group is glad to have the opportunity to soon serve and delight consumers around the vast community developments of Ayala Land,” MerryMart chair Edgar “Injap” Sia II said in a disclosure on Thursday.

The listed grocery chain operator currently has a total of 105 branches. It aims to have 1,200 branches by 2030 to generate P120 billion in systemwide recurring consumer sales revenue.

MerryMart grew its net income attributable to the parent firm by 16 percent to P10.93 million in the first quarter, driven by sales, which rose by 3 percent to P1.17 billion.

Sia earlier said the company was expecting to breach the P5-billion revenue mark this year or more than double its revenues in 2019. The next goal would be to rake in P12 billion in revenues “as soon as possible,” he had said.

“The major cash flow drivers of the MerryMart Group are expected to be the physical retail branches across the country, its wholesale ecommerce platform and its various consumer technology ventures,” Sia said earlier.

As of end-March, MerryMart’s total assets and liabilities stood at P6.8 billion and P4.8 billion, respectively.

—Tyrone Jasper C. Piad