Robinsons Retail swimming in that BPI merger money

Robinsons Retail [RRHI 36.00 ?1.1%; 32% avgVol] [link] teased its H1 and Q2 financial results in a press release, where it revealed that RRHI’s Q2 net income was P1.9 billion, up 34% from its Q2/23 net income of P1.4 billion, with core net earnings up 15% to P1.5 billion. RRHI attributed the jump in Q2 income to “higher dividend income” from its stake in BPI [BPI 122.10 ?0.7%; 127% avgVol], and from “lower losses from associates.” RRHI reported that its “operating income continued to accelerate relative to the topline” thanks to “improvements in sales mix, higher vender support, and optimized costs.”

MB BOTTOM-LINE: That BPI dividend income is going to provide a helpful tailwind for RRHI’s earnings for the remainder of the year, but soon that is just going to be a baked-in benefit that won’t even raise an eyebrow. Such is the life of a public company. As a long-term investor, I like how RRHI is already doing what it can to let investors see beneath the layer of dividend cash, to get us to notice the 15% y/y bump in core earnings (which exclude the BPI divs) and the 7.3% y/y bump in operating income. This tells me that the focus and attention of the management team is in the right place for RRHI shareholders.

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