Jollibee posts 8% jump in Q1 profit to P672M

MANILA, Philippines – Fast food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. ended the first quarter of the year with a profit growth of 8.1% on higher sales from both its local and international operations.

In a financial statement on the Philippine Stock Exchange website, Jollibee said its net income attributable to parent company in the first quarter rose to P672 million from P622 million in the same period last year. 

System-wide sales, a measure of all sales from company-owned and franchised stores, grew 15% to P22.55 billion from P18.74 billion in 2011.

“The profits of our Philippine business and some foreign businesses grew robustly,” said Jollibee chief finance officer Ysmael Baysa.

In the Philippines — where the brands Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal and Burger King are sold — sales from existing and new stores grew 13.8%, the highest in the past 3 years. Jollibee said decreasing inflation and store innovations attracted more customers into its stores.

Overseas, the company enjoyed a sales growth of 20.5%. Although hit by lower profit margins due to high labor and rent expenses, the China operations registered the highest growth of 26.9%, followed by Southeast Asia and Middle East (22.6%) and the US (6.9%).

This year, Jollibee plans to spend P5.8 billion to renovate 180 stores and open 300 more worldwide. It said full-year profit growth is estimated at double digits.

As of end-March, Jollibee ran 2,004 stores in the country and 509 abroad. Its other brands include Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan and San Pin Wang in China and Chow Fun in the US. It also has a joint venture in Vietnam called SuperFoods, whose financial results were already included in the parent company in the first quarter. – Rappler.com