No more foreign ownership limit in Jollibee – PSE

MANILA, Philippines — Asian food conglomerate Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) has secured the green light from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to remove foreign ownership limit in the company.

In a stock exchange filing, JFC said that the PSE has approved the company’s request to amend its foreign ownership limit from 40 percent to no limit.

JCF’s request was in light of the amendments to the company’s primary and secondary purposes under its articles of incorporation, particularly the removal of its ability to own, acquire, mortgage, pledge or encumber land and/or any interest therein.

Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the amendment to the secondary purposes under the second article of the amended articles of incorporation of the company.

The amendment to the secondary purposes under the second article of the amended articles of incorporation has been sought to remove land from among the real properties that may be acquired, mortgaged or encumbered by JFC.

With the approval of the amendment, JFC said that land has been removed from among the real properties that may be acquired, mortgaged or encumbered by the company.

“It’s a good catalyst for the company since there is no foreign limit already. This could provide some positive boost for the company and hopefully it materializes in their share price,” Jeri Alfonso, equity research analyst at Unicapital Securities, said.

JFC has set a strategic roadmap for the next five years as part of its vision to become among the top five restaurant companies in the world.

As it continues to penetrate big markets, the group is optimistic on seeing a growth trajectory in the next five years.

It is also aiming to triple its value in terms of net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company in five years.

As of end-September 2024, the Jollibee Group’s store network stood at a total of 9,598 composed of 3,340 stores in the Philippines and 6,258 abroad.

Its largest brands by store outlets worldwide are Jollibee, CBTL, Highlands Coffee and Chowking.