CEBU, Philippines — Publicly-listed Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. (MRSGI) is eyeing to complete the rebuilding of its store at Ayala Center Cebu by the second half of next year, an official privy to the matter told The FREEMAN.
Anna Marie Periquet, MRSGI vice president for corporate affairs, said the "rebuilding process of our Metro Ayala Cebu store started soon after the site was turned over to us."
Earlier this year, the store was badly hit by a fire, which had triggered closure of Ayala mall for several weeks.
“We are proceeding with the rebuild as expediently as we could,” Periquet said.
“With the well-being of the public and our customers in mind, we are ensuring that the redevelopment of the site adheres to high standards in construction and safety,” she added.
Periquet said the Gaisano-led retailer is opening the store in phases, with the first phase being fully functional early next year.
“We expect full completion by the second half of 2019,” she said. “We will definitely have an announcement as soon as the store is ready.”
The company’s nine-month earnings dipped by 17.3 percent compared to prior year mainly due to the fire that damaged its Ayala department store and supermarket in Ayala.
But MRSGI noted that the rest of its stores remain in the positive territory and have exceeded the prior year’s performance on the back of strong same-store sales growth and margins enhancement.
It posted a net profit of P454 million in the first nine months of 2018.
For the first nine months, the company achieved same-store sales growth of 3.8 percent and 123 basis points improvement in margins versus prior year.
The company posted P110.5 million in profit for third quarter 2018, registering same stores sales growth of 9.3 percent, the highest in the past 10 quarters, and 30 basis points improvement in margins for the same period last year.
The Cebu-based retail giant now operates 51 stores in Central, Western and Eastern Visayas, as well as in Central Luzon, Metro Manila and South Luzon, with three store formats comprising a department store, a supermarket and a hypermarket.
The company is on track in attaining the goal of doubling its 2015 gross floor area by 2022. (FREEMAN)