Jollibee posts P4.4-B profits in H1

Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC), the giant Asian food service company controlled by tycoon Tony Tan Caktiong and his siblings, reported a 13.9 percent dip in attributable net income to P4.4 billion in the first half of 2023 from the P5.1 billion earned in the same period last year.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said system wide sales rose 23.3 percent to P164.13 billion in the first semester this year from P133.13 billion in the comparative period of 2022. Revenues improved 22.1 percent to P115.88 billion from P94.91 billion.

For the second quarter alone, system wide sales (SWS), a measure of all sales to consumers, both from company owned and franchised stores grew by 16.9 percent to P85.49 billion while revenues rose 16.8 percent to P60.79 billion. 
 

However, attributable net income for the quarter declined 16.6 percent to P2.33 billion from P2.79 billion in the same period last year. 
 

The net income for the second quarter of 2022 includes a one-off gain from land conveyance and sale of land properties. Excluding this, attributable net income grew by 34.6 percent.
 

Jollibee said “the results for the quarter and the first half reflected the impact of inflationary pressures, with cost of inventories increasing by 40 bps.”
 

“This was however, offset by an improvement in store and manufacturing costs and general administrative expenses which fell by 40 bps and 70 bps, respectively,” it added.

Jollibee Chief Executive Officer Ernesto Tanmantiong said, “I am pleased with our financial results for the second quarter which reflected continued strong sales and operating profit growth.”
 

“Compared to the same quarter last year, system-wide sales of the Philippine business grew by 14.5 percent while international business grew by 20.9 percent. Our China business posted the highest year-on-year incremental international sales driven by consumption recovery from pandemic disruption last year,” he noted. 
 

Tanmantiong added that, “overall system-wide sales for the second quarter grew by 16.9 percent, with 9 percent growth in same store sales, 6.2 percent from new stores and 1.7 percent from currency translation. JFC opened 270 stores during the first half, 230 of which are in the international markets.”
 

As a result of JFC’s continued strong topline growth and prudent management of expenses, it generated an operating profit of P4 billion during the quarter. This represents an increase of 31 percent compared to the operating profit for the second quarter of 2022 and 11.1 percent higher compared to the first quarter of 2023. 
 

“Our operating profit margin for the quarter proved resilient, improving both on year-on- year (70 bps) and quarter-on-quarter (10 bps) metrics. JFC’s financial results for the second quarter and first half affirm our confidence in our full-year guidance for 2023,” Tanmantiong said.
 

For the second quarter, system wide sales improvement was fueled by the China business which posted a growth of 76.9 percent. SWS of North America and EMEA Philippine brands grew by 15.1 percent and 16.1 percent, respectively. SWS of JFC’s coffee and tea business increased by 11 percent. 
 

The Jollibee brand, which has over 1,600 stores globally and accounts for 49 percent of JFC’s SWS posted a robust growth of 16 percent.
 

JFC Chief Finance Officer Richard Shin said, “we remain focused on improving our margins through strong revenue generation and operational efficiencies and will continue to execute on our strategic priorities including accelerating the growth and improving the profitability of our international business.”