Jollibee Foods Corporation is still optimistic about its growth prospects this year despite new challenges posed by rising costs and disruptions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Over the years, we have been unrelenting in our commitment to create value for both our shareholders and the community. With this commitment and JFC’s strong leadership and dedicated teams, we are well-positioned and confident that our progress to recovery and stronger growth will continue in 2022 and onward,” said JFC Chairman Tony Tancaktiong.
Jollibee Group Chief Executive Officer Ernesto Tanmantiong noted that, “The world faces many new challenges. Even as the pandemic continues in various places around the world at various stages of resurgence and decline, it is compounded by new political and economic instability brought by the war in Ukraine, the dramatic increase in the price of commodities and energy, and the continued disruption in the supply chain.”
“However, I am confident that Jollibee Foods Corporation will not only surmount the difficulties ahead but will continue to thrive and grow steadily in sales and profit,” he stressed.
Tanmantiong explained that, “My positive outlook is based on our track record. We managed to be resilient in the face of adversity. This is partly due to the nature of our business. Food and food service are vital in any society. We will always respond to this basic need.”
“We are now gearing up for further growth in 2022 in the years ahead, to achieve our vision (of becoming one of the top five restaurant companies in the world), we're focused on a two pronged growth strategy,” he said.
Tanmantiong noted that, ““First, is to expand our market leadership in our fast growing home market here in the Philippines, by leveraging our multi brand portfolio to compete at different price points and market segments, while strategically expanding our store network, especially with our foreign franchise brands, given the success of our Burger King, Panda Express, and soon Yoshinoya.”
“Second, we will continue to expand strategically and profitably in international markets through aggressive organic expansion and strategic acquisition in our three pillar markets. These are Philippines, China and North America,” he added.
The company continued to perform well in the first quarter of 2022. System-wide sales of its businesses in China, North America (Philippine brands), Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Australia (EMEAA) have already reached pre-pandemic levels driven by continued store expansion.
It opened 107 new stores in the first quarter of 2022: 19 in the Philippines, 19 in China, 9 in North America, and 13 in EMEAA. SuperFoods and CBTL also opened 19 and 28 stores, respectively.
Jollibee Group generated an operating income of P2.0 billion driven by the acceleration of profit growth in the Philippines. Attributable net income for the first quarter of 2022 amounted to P2.3 billion compared to P152.6 million for the first quarter of 2021.