Jollibee posts 4.6% profit growth in 3rd qtr

After two quarters of negative growth, fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. posted a 4.6-percent hike in net profit in the third quarter this year on the back of higher sales as more investors ate out during the period.

In a financial report filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange, Jollibee said its third quarter net earnings reached P513 million compared with P490 million the previous year-level.

System-wide sales, a measure of all sales to consumers both from company-owned and franchised stores, rose 11.6 percent to P14.06 billion from P12.6 billion.

The income growth was also attributed to gradual price adjustments and margin improvements.

In the nine months ending September 2008, however, Jollibee reported a 9.7-percent growth in net income to P1.64 billion due to higher costs of raw materials and utilities. System-wide sales increased 10.9 percent to P41.61 bilion.

Jollibee chairman and chief executive officer Tony Tan Caktiong said same-store sales grew in practically all its brands and in all regions.

 “We believe that our same-store sales growth was aided by the continued rise in the dollar remittances of overseas Filipino workers, compounded by the depreciation of the peso. We also attribute our strong sales to the growth in volume and value of output of the agricultural sector in the second quarter. The rise in prices of agricultural products should have brought more income to households in the provinces,” Tan Caktiong said.

Sales from overseas operations grew 18 percent in the third quarter compared to that of the same period last year, mainly due to new store openings.

The Jollibee Group had opened a total of 117 stores in the first nine months, bringing total branch network to 1,490 comprising 641 Jollibee, 379 Chowking, 231 Greenwich, 205 Red Ribbon, 27 Delifrance and seven Manong Pepe’s.

On the international front, Jollibee operates 228 stores abroad mostly Yonghe King in the People’s Republic of China with 127 stores, for a total of 1,718 stores in 11 countries worldwide.