Jollibee first-quarter earnings down 8%

MANILA, Philippines — Higher one-time costs caused an 8.1-percent decline in the first-quarter earnings of Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC). This offset growth in the domestic and global units.

On Tuesday, the homegrown fast-food giant disclosed that its net income had ended at P2.41 billion in the first three months of this year. This was lower than the P2.62 billion recorded in the same period last year.

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“While [net income after tax] was slightly lower year-over-year, this was primarily due to nonoperational factors,” JFC chief financial and risk officer Richard Shin said.

Nonoperational items are typically one-time expenses not considered part of a company’s day-to-day operations.

Meanwhile, strength in the international and domestic businesses buoyed system-wide sales by 18.9 percent to P103.2 billion.

Consolidated revenues jumped by 14.6 percent to P70.2 billion.

JFC CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong said the Philippine business grew 11.9 percent, led by Mang Inasal and the flagship Jollibee brand.

Meanwhile, the international business grew 29.5 percent due to fresh gains from Compose Coffee. This is the group’s newly acquired brand based in South Korea.