Philippine Seven Corp., which operates the 7-Eleven chain of convenience stores in the country, bared spending up to P4 billion as capital expenditures this year to expand its network to an aggregate 3,800.
Lawrence de Leon, Philippine Seven head of finance, said the funds will expand its branch network by 400.
Thus far, De Leon said, the chain has opened 150 stores, mostly opened outside Metro Manila. It rounded 2022 with 3,393 stores.
The broad plan is to have half of the network stores owned by franchised entrepreneurs.
Jose Victor Paterno, Philippine Seven CEO, said the business has proven resilient, with the company already back to its pre-pandemic state in the first three months of the year.
According to Paterno, sales remain resilient when it comes to average sales per store per day.
“And as our CEO pointed out, profitability in the first three months already exceeded 2019 pre-pandemic level,” de Leon said.
Paterno said the company expects this year to be another record year as it reaps the benefit of investments done in prior years and even during the pandemic.
Around 52 percent of its stores are corporate-owned while the other 48 percent are franchise operated.
Total new stores opened last year reached 353 against 33 closures. This was higher compared to 164 new stores opened and 69 closures in 2021.
“The company was able to refresh the convenience store concept post-pandemic while remaining true to the time tested goodwill attached to the 7-Eleven brand. This allowed Philippine Seven to move one step closer in fulfilling its mission of making daily lives easier by providing modern convenience,” Philippine Seven chairman and independent director Jose T. Pardo said.
The company has 2,322 ATMs activated in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, including 148 ATMs in Cebu and 82 ATMs in Davao. This translates to a 68 percent cover but expected to expand further as more will be deployed, especially in the underserved segment of the market.
