Robinsons Retail raises stake in Ministop Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — The Gokongwei Group has raised its stake in Ministop Philippines Inc. to 59.1 percent from 51 percent.

Robinsons Retail Holdings, the listed retail arm of the Gokongwei family, increased its investment at a time when consumers’ preference for convenience stores is growing.

Wholly owned subsidiary Robinson’s Inc. entered into an agreement to acquire Mitsubishi Corp.’s shares in Robinsons Convenience Stores Inc. (RCSI), the exclusive master franchise holder  of Ministop in the Philippines.

 Robina Gokongwei-Pe, president and CEO of Robinsons Retail, said their decision to increase their investment in Ministop was in line with their commitment to grow the Ministop chain in the country.

“We remain fully committed in keeping and growing our convenience store business. The CVS format is the fastest growing retail channel in the region and we intend to take advantage of this trend,” Pe said.

For the first half, Ministop generated total system-wide sales amounting to P4.5 billion with merchandise sales hitting P3 billion.

To date, there are 492 Ministop branches in key areas of Metro Manila, Luzon and Visayas.

Ministop is among the country’s popular convenience stores.

According to Nielsen’s latest Shopper Trends report, while supermarkets increased in store count by eight percent, convenience stores are leading the expansion of the small store format concept in the Philippines, showing a growth of 20 percent in 2017.

In 2013, there were only more than 1,620 convenience stores in the country versus close to 4,300 convenience stores as of the first quarter.

Shopper Trends is a syndicated annual report that Nielsen conducts across 54 markets globally. It provides a comprehensive overview of retail environment trends and an understanding of shopping behavior across the different trade channels. 

It provides insights on where, when, and how often people shop, and their emotional commitment and perceptions about key modern trade retailers.

 Nielsen defined small store formats as those with modern trade self-service stores occupying an area measuring 150 to 500 square meters.