Injap Sia’s MerryMart, DoubleDragon posted higher earnings in H1

The property and retail companies of tycoon Edgar “Injap” Sia II saw higher profits in the first half, spurred by the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

MerryMart Consumer Corp. said net income from January to June jumped 96.5 percent to P32.25 million while revenues rose 55.9 percent to P2.87 billion, a stock exchange filing on Monday showed. Earnings included those of pharmacy chains Carlos SuperDrug and Cecile’s Pharmacy, both of which were recently acquired by MerryMart.

Sia said the company was poised to exceed P5 billion in revenues in 2022, double the size from when it went public in 2020.

“The next immediate goal for [MerryMart] is to further double that [in order] to reach our next milestone target of reaching the P12-billion revenue mark,” he added.

1,200 branches by 2023

The company earlier said it would grow its store network to 1,200 branches nationwide by 2023 while aiming to reach P120 billion in systemwide consumer sales revenue.

Sia’s DoubleDragon Corp. said in a separate filing that consolidated core net income rose 29 percent to P1.2 billion in the first half. Total revenues were up nearly 27 percent to P3.41 billion.

Moreover, total assets rose 3.6 percent to P146.7 billion while equity expanded 3.1 percent to P71.44 billion.

Sia said the company now has over 1.2 million square meters of completed gross floor area across the country.

REIT plan

“We expect this portfolio of hard assets to all mature and generate the optimum level of recurring income production before 2025,” he said in a separate statement.

“Other than the focus of the DoubleDragon team to take to maturity this portfolio of hard assets comprising of several office buildings, its chain of provincial community malls, chain of hotels and warehouse complexes, we also continue to prepare for the planned [real estate investment trust or REIT] listing of the CentralHub industrial warehouse portfolio once the overall market conditions improve,” he added.

—Miguel R. Camus INQ
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