Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) will be buying out its remaining parters in the fund that owns Michelin-starred dimsum restaurant Tim Ho Wan.

In a stock exchange filing on Wednesday, August 11, JFC said its subsidiary, Jollibee Worldwide, will purchase the remaining 15% stake of other investors in Titan Dining, the private equity fund which owns the Tim Ho Wan brand and stores.

In 2018, JFC invested $33.1 million for a 45% participating stake in Titan Dining, which was the master franchisee of Tim Ho Wan in the Asia Pacific.

JFC eventually increased its stake to 80% after buying out other investors.

Tim Ho Wan operates 53 stores in Asia, particularly in Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Hong Kong.

The stores join JFC’s network of almost 6,000 stores worldwide.

Earnings

JFC’s net income reached P1 billion in the second quarter of 2021, a reversal from the P10.3-billion loss in the same period in 2020.

For the first half of 2021, JFC’s net income stood at P1.1 billion, a 109% improvement from the P11.9-billion loss in the same period in 2020.

System-wide sales, which measures all sales to consumers from its company-owned and franchised stores, increased by 64.7% to P50.5 billion, resulting in revenue growth of 57.2% to P23.3 billion.

Revenues from January to June reached P71.4 billion, 13.7% higher than the year-ago level.

But JFC’s figures, overall, have not returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Net income and revenues for the first half of 2021 compared to the same period in 2019 are lower by 54.9% and 15.1%, respectively.

JFC said sales improved in the United States and are “well above” pre-pandemic levels, but sales in China and Southeast Asia are just starting to improve.

JFC, so far, has opened 164 new stores and closed 172 stores worldwide amid the coronavirus pandemic. – Rappler.com