The extended Easter holidays in March this year undermined sales of Wilcon Depot, Inc., the country’s leading home improvement and finishing construction supply retailer, sending its first quarter-net income falling 23 percent to P740 million.
Wilcon president Lorraine Belo-Cincochan said even with the lower year-on-year number, earnings in the first quarter is still higher compared to any quarter prior to 2022.
“We are looking forward to better results in the future as we work towards improving our performance to reach or even beat our 2022 results. This quarter’s performance was driven primarily by the considerable year-on-year drop in March sales because of the Easter holidays falling in March this year and exacerbated by the fact that March last year was our highest grossing month,” she said.
April sales has reversed the decline in March and Wilcon is hopeful the steady improvement in daily sales could be sustained.
Belo-Cincochan said sales in the coming quarters should also be aided by the expansion goal of operating 100 stores by the end of this year.
Net sales in the first quarter declined 2.5 percent to P8.31 billion due to weak results in March. In the first two months of the year, net sales were up 2.3 percent.
Metro Manila stores recorded the highest decline as these stores also registered the highest same-store sales growth in the first quarter of 2023.
As a result of lower sales, gross profit likewise decreased by 1.3 percent to P3.32 billion despite the expansion in gross profit margin to 39.9 percent from 39.4 percent the previous year due mainly to the increase in the contribution of the higher margin in-house and exclusive brands.
