Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., the retail arm of the Gokongwei Group, will soon see a changing of the guard as Lance Gokongwei relinquishes his seat as director and chairman of the board at the end of the year.
Robina Gokongwei Pe, the eldest of the Gokongwei brood, will assume the role of chairwoman effective 1 January 2025 as his younger sibling and only brother Lance takes on the role as adviser to the board.
Robina, currently president and chief executive officer, will also head the Remuneration, Nomination and Succession Planning Committee.
It is unclear whether the changes in Robinsons Retail is a prelude to the ascent of other daughters of John Gokongwei in the management of the conglomerate the late tycoon earnestly built over several decades. Lance and Robina have four younger sisters—Faith, Hope, Marcia and Lisa.
The Gokongwei Group has interests in airline, banking, real estate development, retail, telecommunications, petrochemicals, publishing, and food manufacturing.
Stanley C. Co, who became chief operating officer of Robinsons Retail in August last year, will succeed Robina as president and CEO and will also be elected as board director.
Curtis Liu was appointed director of the company and a member of the Audit and Risk Oversight Committee effective 1 September. He will replace Choo Peng Chee who has resigned as director and member of the committee.
Meanwhile, the board of Robinsons Retail extended its share buyback program by adding another P1 billion to the war chest. The company started the buyback program in March 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, initially earmarking P2 billion. It has since been extended several times, the last increase of P1 billion in January this year that raised the total to P8 billion.
As of 25 July, the balance of the buyback fund is P1.09 billion. Since the start of the program, Robinsons Retail has bought back and kept in treasury a total 132.8 million shares for P6.91 billion, equivalent to an 8.8 percent stake in the company that may be sold to strategic investors if needed.
While share buyback programs enhance shareholder value, they take away funds that could otherwise have been invested in new ventures, expansion projects or repaying debt.
Robinsons Retail has six wholly-owned subsidiaries and 16 affiliates that include Robinson’s Supermarket Corp.; Robinson’s Handyman, Inc.; Robinsons Appliances Corp.; and Robinsons Convenience Stores, Inc.
It posted P192.1 billion in sales last year and a net income of P4.1 billion. It has a store network of 2,393, with 2,127 accounted for by TGP drug stores.
