JOLLIBEE Foods’s Philippine businesses boosted the fast-food chain’s second-quarter profit, even as it struggled with its operation in China.
Net income of the Philippines’ biggest restaurant operator jumped 31 per cent from a year ago to three billion pesos (S$69.5 million) during the period, the company said on Wednesday (Aug 14). Revenue rose 10.6 per cent to 67.2 billion pesos, as Philippine and international businesses grew 11.1 per cent and 9.7 per cent, respectively, CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong said.
Key Philippine restaurants, including its eponymous brand that sells sweet spaghetti and fried chicken, Chowking and Mang Inasal, outperformed their sales targets, he said.
Sales in China, which the Philippine fast-food group regards as a key overseas market, fell 13.4 per cent on weak consumer spending. Jollibee had 567 stores under multiple brands as at the end of June in the world’s second-largest economy and the sales drop was steeper than the 3.7 per cent decline in the first quarter.
The April to June results drove the company’s net income for the first six months of the year to 5.7 billion pesos, up 29 per cent from a year earlier, while revenue rose 11 per cent to 128.5 billion pesos.
Jollibee is reducing this year’s capital spending by around 20 per cent from its previous guidance to 16 to 18 billion pesos to prioritise its “champion brands”, Jollibee chief financial and risk officer Richard Shin said.
Full-year operating income growth is now seen at 18 to 20 per cent from 10 to 15 per cent previously even with a slightly slower forecast expansion of 6 to 7 per cent for its store network from 7 to 8 per cent earlier.
Jollibee expects to add 750 to 820 stores this year – up from its previous target of 700 to 750 – given the consolidation of South Korea’s Compose Coffee which it acquired in July. BLOOMBERG
