7-Eleven posts P390 million H1 loss

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Seven Corp. (PSC), the local licensee of 7-Eleven convenience stores, incurred a net loss of P390 million in the first half of the year as sales declined due to strict lockdown measures.

This is a reversal of the P373.3 million profit reported in the same period last year.

In the second quarter, the convenience store operator posted a net loss of P493.5 million as against the P485.3  million net income it booked a year ago.

Retail sales of all stores decreased 31.4 percent in the second quarter to P9.9 billion owing to the sharp decline in same-store sales by 25.5 percent, the company said in a filing.

During the first few weeks of the enhanced community quarantine imposed in mid-March, up to 30 percent of the company’s stores was closed.

The company slowly reopened in the second quarter to provide essential services to the public.

At the end of June, less than 10 percent of stores remained closed and was further reduced to five percent in July.

PSC said the various levels of community quarantine in the National Capital Region affected supply-chain and the movement of individuals due to the lack of public transportation.

“This continues to affect the sales of 7-Eleven as well as the ability of its frontliners to access the stores,” it said.

PSC ended the first half with a nationwide store count of 2,930, up 10 percent from 2019. Of the total, 2,222 7-Eleven stores are in Luzon, of which 1,019 are in Metro Manila, 425 in Visayas and 283 in Mindanao.

The franchised-stores accounted for 55 percent of the total while the remaining 45 percent are corporate-owned.

PSC said its strong balance sheet shall enable the company to pursue its corporate strategies in response to the lingering threats brought about by the pandemic.

Moving forward, PSC is also accelerating its digital strategy in the areas of e-commerce and payments.

7-Eleven, with is CLiQQ mobile app, remains to be the preferred channel for e-money and bills payment as consumers shift to cashless transactions.