Metro Retail income jumps 57% to P540 M

MANILA, Philippines — Gaisano-led Metro Retail Stores Group Inc.(MRSGI) reported a 56.6 percent jump in its net income in the first half of year, driven by the opening of new stores.

In a financial report to the Philippine Stock Exchange MRSGI said its net income from January to June surged to P539.5 million from P344.4 million in the same period last year.

Net sales in the six-month period grew 10.8 percent to P16.6 billion from P14.98 billion a year ago.

“The opening of new stores and re-opening of the damaged supermarket boost the increase in sales, in addition to the samestore sales growth of 3.1 percent over the same period last year,” the company said.

Rental income also posted gains during the period, growing 3.1 percent to P121.7 million from P118.0 million in the same period last year.

“Increase in rental income is primarily due to the opening of new stores, which led to an increase in net leasable space, coupled with increase in rental fees due to escalation clauses in our existing lease agreements,” MRSGI said.

Meanwhile, cost of sales amounted to P12.87 billion, an 11.3 percent rise from P11.56 billion last year.

“Cost of sales grew slightly faster than net sales due to faster rate of growth of our food retail business, which typically have a higher cost of sales compared to our general merchandise,” MRSGI said.

The company said it has continued to execute its margin enhancement plan that included among others, negotiation with suppliers, improvement of share to business of outright sales, and rationalization of sales to resellers.