Sales do heavy lifting for Jollibee in absence of one-off gain

MANILA  -Tycoon Tony Tan Caktiong’s Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) said earnings during the first nine months of the year were weighed down by the absence of one-time gains, however, quarterly income continued to post strong growth as sales continued to outpace inflationary pressures.

The fast food giant, which also owns barbecue chicken chain Mang Inasal and international brands such as Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and Tim Ho Wan, said net income from January to September slipped 5.7 percent to P6.8 billion sans a similar nonrecurring gain it booked last year.

Revenues during the period, however, jumped 18 percent to P177.4 billion as system-wide sales grew 19.1 percent to P251.1 billion. The company’s performance was driven by strong third-quarter results—a record high in terms of operating profit at P4.3 billion, up nearly 43 percent over the same period in 2022.

“This is JFC’s third consecutive quarter of record-high operating income,” company CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong said in a stock exchange filing on Monday.

“Both our Philippine and international businesses achieved strong operating profit growth, reflecting the strength and resilience of our brands in an environment that remains volatile and challenging,” he added.

The company’s quarterly system-wide sales also grew 11.8 percent, while same-store sales expanded by 13 percent.

“The international business [alone] saw a growth of 5.4 percent in system-wide sales and 2.6 percent in same-store sales,” Tanmantiong said.

“Our Jollibee brand, which has over 1,600 stores globally and accounts for 49 percent of JFC’s system-wide sales grew by 16.7 percent in the third quarter,” he added.

The group opened 429 new stores, of which 365 stores are in the international markets. It closed the nine-month period with 6,720 stores globally.

READ: Jollibee group sets record store expansion in 2023

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Tanmantiong said the company was keeping its full-year revenue growth target of 10 percent to 15 percent and same store sales growth goal of 7 percent to 10 percent. Operating income was targeted to grow up to 25 percent this year, while store network could expand by 5 percent.

“While the external environment has not improved, we remain confident in our ability to deliver sustainable growth as we continue to focus on what we can control, invest in line with long-term strategy, prudently manage our expenses and drive efficiencies in our organization,” JFC chief financial officer Richard Shin said. INQ