Fast food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. is confident of exceeding its targets this year and optimistic of a rebound of the local economy and in all places where they are operating. “Our optimism really comes from seeing strong month after month performance in our domestic business, and also seeing some of our laggards of last year, like the Smashburger, turning around,”
Richard Shin, Jollibee chief finance officer, said.
The company reported operating income 50 percent higher in the first half despite coming off a high base of growth last year.
Earlier this month Jollibee reported six-month profit down 6 percent to P4.69 billion from last year’s P4.99 billion.
Revenue totaled P164 billion for the period, 23 percent higher than last year’s P133.12 billion that
Shin traced to a one-time gain last year from the sale of land worth P2.9 billion.“The operating income line grew over 50 percent, that’s income generated from our stores. So the optimism really comes in from the fact that we are growing the top line on a steady basis,” he said.
Shin said Jollibee looks to grow systemwide sales by 15 to 20 percent this year translating to same store-sales growth of 7 to 10 percent, with first half figure at the higher end of the guidance. “We’re beating the guidance. Operating income is ahead of guidance as well. For the rest of the year, we believe we will not only deliver guidance but likely exceed it,” he said.
Shin acknowledged Jollibee is still behind its target capital expenditure of P17 billion to 19 billion.
He said the company remains focused on expanding its network of stores in the US, China and the Philippines.
