Jollibee profit soars as Filipinos order more

Jollibee Foods has reported  13.8 per cent global sales growth in its nine-month net profit as sales soared to P4.39 billion (US$88.2 million).

Most of the Jollibee profit growth came from the domestic market where sales rose 16 per cent year-on-year, with the expanding offshore business returning 6.4 per cent growth.

During the third quarter, net profit rose 6.1 per cent to P1.33 billion.

“Sales of our businesses continued to be strong. We expect to end the year 2016 with the highest system-wide sales growth in five years and the highest organic growth in at least a decade driven by strong same store sales growth and the highest store network expansion,” said Jollibee CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong in an earnings statement.

Jollibee, Asia’s largest food company, grew systemwide sales in the third quarter by 12.4 per cent to P36.32 billion, taking nine-month sales to P107.76 billion or 14.1 per cent higher.

On a global basis, sales from the same-store network grew by 6 per cent year-on-year while new stores contributed a growth of 6.4 per cent.

Tanmantiong said the company was encouraged by improvements in China, which helped its international business return to growth.

“We look forward to continued recovery of our China business in the months ahead with the introduction of new products. Our plans for 2017 and the years ahead call for continued strong same store sales growth and store network expansion in the Philippines and abroad with the aim of surpassing our historical performance,” he said.

JFC opened 201 new stores between January and September – 133 in the Philippines and 68 abroad. That’s a higher number than for the whole of 2015, when 186 opened.

Jollibee’s CFO Ysmael Baysa said gross profit margins on the company’s products improved in the third quarter as raw material prices stabilised.

At the end of September Jollibee had 3221 stores worldwide, 2547 of them in the Philippines. It also has a stake in Highlands Coffee in Vietnam and the Philippines, Pho 24 in Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Korea and Australia, Hotpot in China Smashburger in the US.