Jollibee earns P2.6 B in H1

MANILA, Philippines - Jollibee Foods Corp. reported a slight increase in its first half profit to P2.6 billion as higher prices of raw materials squeezed income margins.

In a statement issued yesterday, Jollibee said major investment spending on information technology increased general and administration expenses.

Revenues, meanwhile, grew 9.5 percent in the first semester to P47.85 billion.

As of June 30, the fastfood giant had a total store network of 3,000 in and out of the country. It opened 131 new stores worldwide, the highest store opening in the first six months.  Of the 131, 102 are  in the Philippines.

Jollibee CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong said the company is on track to open at least 200 new stores in the country in one year, the first time for the company to do so.

“We look forward to opening 300 new stores worldwide this year, also a first in our history with 100 abroad, the bulk of which will be in the People’s Republic of China,” Tanmantiong said.

“The key drivers of our store network growth are strong store sales growth and improved profitability and financial returns of our stores, built over the past two years across the brands and across different regions in the world and increased capability of our organization particularly our network development group in the Philippines.,” he said.