Jollibee secures P3.9-B loans for capex, buyouts

MANILA, Philippines -  Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) has secured P3.9 billion in loans from the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and Citibank N.A. to fund its capital expenditures and acquisitions abroad.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, JFC said it signed an agreement to obtain a P900 million loan from The Bank of Tokyo which will be paid in one year from drawdown at a fixed interest rate.

Wholly-owned subsidiary Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd. likewise entered into agreements to borrow from Citibank and Bank of Tokyo $40 million and $30 million, respectively. Both loans are payable in three years from drawdown at fixed interest rates.

These new loans will bring the group’s total debt to P8.1 billion, representing 22 percent of total assets. To date, it has existing loans of P4.1 billion which was used for the acquisition of the Hongzhuangyuan business in Beijing, China in October 2008 and 70 percent of Mang Inasal in November 2010.

JFC operates the largest food service chain in the country with a total of 1,921 stores as of end-December last year, broken down as follows: Jollibee (717), Chowking (400), Greenwich (223), Red Ribbon (221), Manong Pepe (12), Cafe Ti Amo (3) and Mang Inasal (345).

On the international front, the group had 395 stores, consisting of Yonghe King in China (200), Jollibee (67) Red Ribbon Red Ribbon (38) Chopwking (38) and Honzhuangyuan (52).

Combined, the group owns a total of 2,316 stores worldwide.

JFC posted net earnings of P3.09 billion last year, up 16 percent from 2009, mainly driven by strong growth across all its brands coupled with the first time contribution of the newly-acquired Mang Inasal business.

Systemwide sales, a measure of all sales to consumers both from company-owned and franchised stores, rose 10.2 percentto P70.25 billion while revenues went up 11.2 percent to P53.35 billion. Net operating income amounted to P3.67 billion, 11.1 percent higher than the P3.3 billion recorded a year earlier.