MerryMart profit drops 28.6% amid expansion strain

MANILA, Philippines — Higher expenses pushed down the earnings of grocery store chain operator MerryMart Consumer Corp. in 2023, as the company worked to scale up its wholesale business.

MerryMart, led by tycoon Edgar “Injap” Sia II, on Monday reported that its net income last year dropped by 28.6 percent to P406.8 million from P569.8 million, despite higher revenues.

The company’s top line grew 6.8 percent to P6.3 billion from P5.9 billion in 2022.

Gross expenses, however, reached P6.6 billion, up by 25.5 percent from P5.3 billion.

“[MerryMart] continues to invest in parts of its business that are important in its preparation as it expects to significantly grow its market share with improvements in distribution centers, logistics and systems upgrade,” the company said in a stock exchange filing.

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MerryMart added that its largest standalone supermarket is expected to open by July in Tarlac province.

The MerryMart Grocery will stand on a 4,032-square-meter area within Ayala Land Inc.’s Cresendo Estate.

Scaling up

Meanwhile, MerryMart Wholesale is currently on the “scale-up stage,” with the company saying that the business has “significantly grown with tighter margins but with higher transaction value.”

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The e-commerce platform exceeded 200,000 total registered members as of February. MerryMart aims to expand this to 500,000 and carry 15,000 products by the end of the year.

The group’s other store formats are MerryMart Express and MerryMart Market. MM Consumer Technologies Corp. is its consumer technology subsidiary.

“Focusing on the foundation sets the stage for future growth and expansion,” company chair Sia said. “With a strong foundation in place, MerryMart will be better equipped to weather challenges and scale operations in the future.”

MerryMart aims to grow its store network to 1,200 branches nationwide by 2030 and generate up to P120 billion in system-wide recurring consumer sales revenue.

Currently, the company has at least 127 branches nationwide.

MerryMart is likewise set to open a two-hectare distribution center in Laguna province this year to widen its market coverage and make its current logistics operations “more efficient.”