Metro Retail earnings jump 69% in Q1

MANILA, Philippines – Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. of the Gaisano family saw its net income surge by more than two-thirds in the first three months of the year on strong consumer spending.
Net earnings reached P52.8 million, up 69.2 percent from P31.2 million.

Metro Retail posted a 9.7-percent jump in all-store sales driven by strong same-store sales growth of 7.4 percent.

“Building on our robust growth last year, our strong start for 2016 demonstrates our continued commitment to deliver more value to our customers and shareholders,” Metro Retail chairman and CEO Frank Gaisano said.

Gaisano said the company continues to expand both its store network and its logistics and supply chain facilities.

The retailer recently opened a hypermarket in Calbayog City in Eastern Visayas, as well as two department stores in UP Town Center and Fairview Terraces in Quezon City to bring its store network to 49.

Of its 49 stores, 24 are supermarkets, 13 are hypermarkets, and 12 are department stores.

Metro Retail had previously acquired department store assets from SIAL Specialty Retailers Inc., a joint venture between Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) and Store Specialists Inc.  It is set to open another department store in Fairview Terraces Mall in Quezon City.

The company has also entered into a partnership with ALI for the establishment of its stores in four new Ayala commercial developments in Bacolod, Iloilo, Cebu, and Pasig.

“The dynamic Philippine retail industry continues to present a lot of opportunities for growth, and we are currently ahead of schedule in doubling our footprint by 2020 with 40 percent of this target already secured today,” Gaisano said.

Metro Retail stores are currently present in key cities in Central, Western and Eastern Visayas, as well as in Central Luzon, Metro Manila, and South Luzon.

According to Euromonitor, Metro Retail is the Visayas’ largest department store and hypermarket operator, and second-largest supermarket operator in 2014 in terms of retail sales value.

The firm was also Cebu’s largest retailer across all its three store formats in terms of retail value in the same year.