Jollibee earnings up 23% to P691 million in first quarter

MANILA, Philippines - Fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) said its profit grew 23 percent in the first quarter this year to P691 million, mainly driven by higher sales and profit margin and lower financing costs.

In a financial report submitted to securities regulators, JFC said systemwide retail sales, a measure of all sales to consumers, rose 8.4 percent to P16.3 billion. Sales in the Philippines jumped 7.7 percent while sales overseas grew 12.5 percent.

Net operating income rose 16.8 percent, largely due to higher gross profit margin resulting from lower cost of raw materials.

In the first quarter this year, the JFC Group opened a total of 40 stores – 21 in the Philippines and 19 abroad,14 were in China, of which bringing the total number of stores worldwide to 1,904.

Jollibee is opening 200 new stores across all its food brands in and outside the Philippines this year as part of its capital expenditure program, amounting to over P4 billion. These new outlets will include a newly-acquired business, Café Ti-Amo and bring the group’s total network to 2,082 by end-2010.

Last year, JFC opened a total of 168 stores worldwide – 110 in the Philippines and 58 overseas.

Café Ti-Amo, a 50-50 joint venture with local entrepreneur Pamela Tan and her siblings, opened its pilot branch in SM North Annex recently and plans are underway for the construction of nine more within the year.

Café Ti-Amo is a Korean restaurant brand that offers gelato and coffee in a casual dining format. Since its inception, Café Ti-Amo has grown to 269 stores.

JFC posted a net profit of P2.66 billion in 2009, up 14.6 percent from a year ago, on robust sales, lower raw material costs and income taxes as well as contained expenses. Revenues rose 9.5 percent to P48.06 billion while system-wide sales went up 9.6 percent to P63.73 billion.

JFC runs the country’s largest fastfood network under the flagship brand Jollibee, Oriental chain Chowking, pizza and pasta restaurant Greenwich, Red Ribbon bakeshop, Delifrance and affordable Filipino meal store Manong Pepe’s.

Just recently, JFC announced it has taken a 55 percent stake in San Pin Wang, a noodle restaurant chain in China, for $4.4 million. San Pin Wang operates 34 stores in Nanning and Liuzhou in southern China.