MANILA -Businessman William Belo’s Wilcon Depot Inc. sees muted sales growth in 2023 as consumers shift to revenge travel and away from home improvement spending that helped bolster the company’s profits to a record high last year.
Wilcon president and CEO Lorraine Belo-Cincochan told reports during a media briefing on Monday said the company was still growing but nevertheless cautious on its outlook of the year.
“There is a bit of revenge travel…discretionary spending is [moving] more toward this kind of spending at the moment,” she said after the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting.
“So that will have a bit of an impact on the growth that we are looking at for 2023,” she said.
She added that the core business remained strong and they would continue to open new stores.
“The renovation market will always be there,” Belo-Cincochan said, adding that the hospitality sector was ramping up the construction of projects given strong demand in the tourism segment.
Company officials did not share any earnings guidance for the year.
However, Wilcon vice president for investor relations Mary Jean Alger said it might be challenging to match the previous year’s record financial performance.
“We are coming off a very high base so we are not expecting another spectacular year in terms of grow. It’s going to be more muted growth for the topline,” she said, referring to their projected revenues this year.
Wilcon earlier said net income last year surged over 50 percent to a record P3.85 billion while sales jumped 22 percent to P33.57 billion.
Wilcon posted record profit in 2022
Wilcon expects to open 8-10 new stores this year as it aims to reach 100 outlets by 2024, which will be a year ahead of schedule.
Belo-Concochan said the company also plans to open a mix of depot store formats and smaller formats in the coming years.