Higher sales lift Jollibee 2012 profit by 15%

MANILA, Philippines – Earnings of fast food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. rose 15% in 2012, as existing and new stores posted strong sales.

Jollibee said in a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, February 14, its net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company reached P3.72 billion in 2012, against P3.23 billion in 2011.

System-wide sales, a measure of sales of both company-owned and franchised stores, grew 12.3% to P92.27 billion, while revenues jumped 13.6% to P71.05 billion.

Jollibee said sales of its Philippine restaurant chains went up 10.3%, while those overseas rose by a faster 21.7%.

All regions performed strongly, led by China (27.1% sales growth). Southeast Asia and the Middle East grew 23.8%, Philippines 10.3% and US 9.2%.

“Our efforts in strengthening the brands, improving products and increasing value to customers are delivering strong results,” said Jollibee chairman and CEO Tony Tan Caktiong.

Store closures

Jollibee CFO Ysmael Baysa said the group’s profit would have grown 23.6% in 2012 if not for the closure of some stores in the US and China.

“The significant cost of the store closures prevented JFC from achieving an otherwise outstanding financial performance in 2012,” he said.

“We look forward to do a better job at making investments in new stores in the future,” he added.

The Jollibee group opened a total of 223 new stores in 2012: 135 in the Philippines and 88 abroad. At the end of the year, it was operating a total of 2,074 stores in the Philippines and 554 stores overseas. – Rappler.com