Wilcon Depot, Inc., the Philippines’ leading home improvement and construction supplies retailer, sees a potential turnaround in the second half as the decline in its second quarter earnings was not as steep as in the first quarter.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said its net income dropped 23 percent to ₱1.16 billion in the first half of 2025, while second-quarter profit declined by a slower 18.7 percent to ₱636 million.

The decrease is mainly driven by the decline in same-store sales, while operating expenses increased, as new stores were added.

Wilcon President and CEO, Lorraine Belo-Cincochan, said she remains positive about Wilcon’s potential turnaround in the second half of the year despite the first half results.

“We are already seeing an upward trend in our sales and our SSSG (same store sales growth)is already in positive territory in June... It was mainly during the long holidays in April and May that foot traffic was affected, as expected.

“We’ve also implemented measures on the cost and expenses fronts. We re-configured some of our processes and adjusted employed resources such as manpower and equipment, to minimize the growth or even reduce certain expense items.

“While some of the impact of the measures we’ve implemented will be spread out up to next year, we are already seeing improvements, especially in trucking,” she added.

Belo-Cincochan noted that “If sales growth rates continue to trend upward and we are able to control increases in some expense items, we are expecting to reverse the net income decline in the first half.”

Wilcon opened three new branches so far for the year and it has also re-opened its Baliwag, Bulacan store, which was burned down last year.

“While we’re still pursuing our store network expansion, we’re also working on improving the profitability of old stores, given the changes in their respective markets.

“We’re looking at not only refreshing products, layouts and displays but also reducing selling and operating areas, which we expect to lead to lower operating costs,” added Belo-Cincochan.

Net sales for the first half 2025 amounted to ₱17.11 billion, slightly lower by 0.4 percent year-on-year, driven primarily by the slowdown in foot traffic in May because of the elections, which had a similar effect as the long Easter holidays in April.

Comparable sales declined by 4.9 percent as comparable ticket size continued to trend lower year-on-year in view mainly of mix and pricing.

On a per format basis, sales from the depot-format stores amounted to ₱16.49 billion with a flattish 0.1 percent growth year-on-year.

Sales from new depots increased total sales by 4.5 percent year-on-year, while comparable sales declined by 4.4 percent.

The smaller format, Do-It-Wilcon (DIW), which includes the original Home Essentials stores, recorded net sales of ₱540 million, a 10.8 percent increase year-on-year.

Same-store sales for this format grew by 6.6 percent, while the rest of the increase was contributed by below one-year sales of new DIWs. The remaining 0.5 percent of total net sales was accounted for by project sales or sales to major institutional accounts, which amounted to ₱84 million, a 62.9 percent year-on-year decline due mainly to the decrease in the number of projects served by major developers.