Wilcon Depot Inc., a listed home improvement and finishing construction supply retailer, on Friday reported a 13 percent year-on-year growth in first-quarter net income to P962 million on an increase in other income from suppliers and the boost in sales brought by stores opened last year.
Net sales for the January-March quarter improved 11 percent to P8.53 billion, helped by the opening of 11 stores opened early in 2022.
Wilcon chief executive officer Lorraine Belo-Cincochan said the results returned by stores opened last year were encouraging and emboldens the company to pursue plans for further expansion this year.
“We are looking to exceed our target new store openings this year from 8 up to 11. This is also so we can proceed with the rationalization of a couple of our bottom-dwelling Home Essentials branches while staying on track to meet our 100-store target by next year. We have opened two depot branches during the quarter and this April we opened a Home Essentials branch in Mindanao,” she said.
Operating expenses including lease-related interest expense rose 23 percent year-on-year to P2.31 billion due mainly to expansion-related expenses.
Other income more than doubled to P217 million from P133 million on account of an increase in supplier support for marketing and promotions expenses.
