Philippine Seven Corp., the listed company that holds the local franchise of convenience store chain 7-11, posted a 21 percent growth in first-quarter net income to P639.3 million, driven by the continued expansion of the store network and improving customer traffic.
Store count increased by 11 percent to 3,829 at the end of the first quarter while average customer count per store per day was 9.3 percent higher.
Philippine Seven said the timing effect of the Holy Week this year, which fell during the first quarter, favorably affected same store sales.
System-wide sales, which encompass the sales and service income of all corporate and franchise-operated stores, increased by 20 percent to P22.0 billion during the quarter.
Revenue from contracts with customers, which aggregates revenue from merchandise sales, franchise revenue and service income, jumped 19 percent to P20.6 billion.
Moreover, revenue from merchandise sales, accounts for sales of corporate stores, merchandise sold to franchisees, and merchandise sales of five grocery branches, also grew by 19.8 percent to P18.7 billion.
Despite, the increase in sales, operating income was down to 4.5 percent, owing to the delay in recognition of other income and price subsidy from cigarette manufacturers. This is expected to catch up in the following quarter.
