Jollibee swings to P153 million profit in Q1

MANILA, Philippines — Jollibee Foods Corp., the listed Asian food conglomerate, reported a net income of P153 million in the first quarter, a reversal of the P1.7 billion net loss a year ago.

Operating income reached P1.5 billion, 227.2 percent higher than the P1.2 billion recorded a year ago.

System wide sales, however, were down 13.4 percent to P47.8 billion.

Sales from the Philippine business alone declined by 21.3 percent.

The international business, on the other hand, grew its sales by 1.3 percent.

Compared to the first quarter of 2019 or pre-pandemic level, sales declined by 28.5 percent in the Philippines but only by 0.8 percent in international business without the impact of the acquisition of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf® (CBTL) or a 31.8 percent growth including CBTL.

JFC’s international business contributed 41.1 percent to its Q1 2021 global system wide sales while the Philippines accounted for 58.9 percent.

JFC chief executive officer Ernesto Tanmantiong said most of the company’s businesses abroad are reaching sales at pre-pandemic level.

“In the month of March 2021, our sales in China, North America (Philippine brands), EMEAA (Europe, Middle East and Asia) and SuperFoods mainly in Vietnam were already equal to or slightly higher than those in March 2019,” he said.

The Philippine business continues to face challenges due to continued restrictions related to the pandemic but Tanmantiong said the Philippine business provided the most profit contribution among all regions in the world.

Global same store sales decreased by 14.7 percent, with the Philippine business declining by 26.1 percent and the international business growing by 7.5 percent.

Lower sales per store in the Philippines were caused by continued high level of restrictions to control the COVID-19 pandemic particularly in Metro Manila and nearby provinces – Rizal, Laguna, Cavite and Bulacanwhere enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the strictest form of lockdown was reimposed from the middle of March to mid-April 2021.

The JFC Group opened 79 new stores in the first quarter: 19 in the Philippines, 12 in China, 8 in North America and 1 in EMEAA. SuperFoods and CBTL opened 24 and 15 stores, respectively. A total of 76 stores were permanently closed during the quarter: 18 in the Philippines and 58 abroad.

JFC will apply for shelf registration of up to P20 billion worth of peso-denominated cumulative, non-voting, non-participating perpetual preferred shares with planned initial issuance of P8 billion equivalent to eight million preferred shares with an oversubscription option of P4 billion.

“JFC’s objective in this plan is to restructure its financial obligations in order to strengthen its balance sheet, spread the maturity of its financial obligations and reduce its foreign exchange risks. This is also part of its action steps to reduce its debt and financing cost as its businesses in different parts of the world recover from the severe impact of the pandemic,” JFC said.