By James A. Loyola Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. recorded a 6.2 percent increase in core net earnings to P5.0 billion last year on the back of strong same store sales growth (SSSG) across all formats. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, RRHI said unaudited attributable net income inched up 2.0 percent to P5.1 billion last year from P4.9 billion in 2017. Consolidated net sales improved by 15.1 percent to P132.7 billion in 2018 from P115.2 billion in 2017 driven by the strong blended SSSG of 5.9 percent, the sales contribution from the 104 net new stores opened in 2018 and the one-month consolidation of the Rustan Supercenters, Inc. The supermarket segment continued to account for the biggest share of sales at 47 percent in 2018. Its share to total net sales is expected to further increase this year due to the full year consolidation of Rustan. The strong SSSG in 2018 brought about by the increase in disposable income from the reduction in personal income tax was largely driven by the supermarket segment which recorded SSSG of 7.6 percent, followed by specialty stores at 6.9 percent, convenience stores at 5.1 percent, do-it-yourself (DIY) at 5.0 percent, drugstores at 3.3 percent, and department store at 2.3 percent. Blended gross profit expanded by 15.0 percent to P29.7 billion from P25.8 billion the previous year. Meanwhile, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) rose by 7.6 percent to P9.0 billion. Excluding the franchised stores of The Generics Pharmacy, Robinsons Retail ended the year with a total of 1,910 stores comprising of 252 supermarkets, 52 department stores, 210 do-it-yourself stores, 499 convenience stores, 510 drugstores and 387 specialty stores. The group’s gross floor area expanded by 28.8 percent year-on-year to 1.48 million square meters.