Robinsons Retail income down 34.3% in H1 2023

MANILA  -The Gokongwei Group’s supermarket and specialty retailer Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. saw lower earnings in the first half of 2023 as foreign exchange losses hurt the bottom line.

Net income from January to June this year fell 34.3 percent to P1.8 billion, a stock exchange filing on Friday showed. The company cited higher foreign exchange losses and equitized losses from associates.

Core earnings, which removes the impact of non-recurring items, grew 10.6 percent to P2.4 billion, which the company attributed to “resilient” business prospects.

“This is notwithstanding the challenging base in the second quarter, as the second quarter of 2022 saw the company’s businesses benefit from economic reopening and election-related spending,” Robinsons Retail said.

Total sales grew 10.5 percent to P91 billion while gross profit expanded by 111.4 percent to P21.5 billion, the filing showed. Same store sales growth also increased by 6.3 percent.

“We are encouraged with our first half results as we were able to grow despite the high base last year. We owe this to our expanding multi-format retail portfolio that continues to offer relevant products and services to consumers,” Robina Gokongwei-Pe, president and CEO of Robinsons Retail, said in a statement on Friday.

“As we navigate the evolving economic landscape, we remain committed to prudent financial management, strategic decision-making, and sustainability in order to capitalize on opportunities to drive success and create shared value for our customers and stakeholders,” she added.

The company earlier sold its stake in Robinsons Bank to the Ayala Groups’ Bank of the Philippine Islands and acquired shares in the larger BPI.

“The interest expense from the acquisition financing of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) shares which were acquired earlier this year was fully offset by the dividend income from the BPI shares,” it said.

Robinsons Retail is the operator of Robinsons Supermarket, Ministop and Rose Pharmacy apart from specialty stores such as home improvement retailer True Value and Korean grocery store No brand.