By James A. Loyola

Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC), the largest Asian food service company, reported a 19.2 percent jump in attributable net income to P6.09 billion in the first nine months of the year on the back of a stronger third quarter performance.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said attributable net income for the third quarter of 2018 increased by 25.9 percent to P2.04 billion compared to the same quarter of 2017.

The system wide sales of grew by 25.9 percent in the third quarter of 2018 to P53.27 billion and by 24.2 percent to P153.18 billion in the first nine months of 2018 driven by strong same store sales growth and expansion of its store network.

System wide sales measure sales to consumers, both from company-owned and franchised stores.

Revenues grew by 21.7 percent to 39.75 billion and 21.5 percent to P114.84 billion for the third quarter and for the first nine months of 2018, respectively.

Excluding the impact of the consolidation of Smashburger which took effect on April 17, 2018, system wide sales grew by 15.9 percent for the third quarter of 2018 driven by new stores which contributed 8.6 percent, 6.2 percent same store sales growth and 1.1 percent impact of change in foreign exchange rates.

System wide sales grew by 17.7 percent for the nine months of 2018 without Smashburger.

“Sales grew strongly in most regions in the world including the Philippines,” said Jollibee Foods Corporation Chief Financial Officer Ysmael V. Baysa.

He added that, “we are encouraged particularly by the strong performance of Jollibee and Highlands Coffee in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam which have been growing by 35 percent driven by high same store sales and the opening of 73 new stores in the first nine months of the year with strong return on investments.”

Baysa said “we look forward to the recovery of profit margins in the Philippines in 2019 and the significant improvement in the profit performance of our new businesses in the next one to two years – in line with JFC’s system of management and historical performance in episodes of high inflation rate and in acquisitions of new businesses.”

System wide sales grew strongly in the third quarter of 2018 led by the North America business which grew by 218.0 percent due to the consolidation of Smashburger (30.3 percent ex-Smashburger).

Europe, Middle East and Asia ex-Philippines (EMEAA) business rose by 32.3 percent, China business by 5.2 percent and the Philippine business by 15.0 percent.

System wide sales growth of the foreign business accelerated to 61.5 percent. Excluding Smashburger, system wide sales of the foreign business for the third quarter of 2018 grew by 19.0 percent.

Growth in the Philippine business which accounts for 70 percent of JFC’s worldwide system wide sales was driven by 7.0 percent same store sales growth and 8.0 percent contribution from new stores.(JAL)