The Securities and Exchange Commission approved the application of Philippine Seven Corp., the local franchise holder of convenience store chain 7-Eleven, to increase its capital stock to P1.6 billion from P600 million.
PSC said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the increase would consist of 1.6 billion common shares with a par value of P1 per share, up from 600 million common shares with a par value of P1 apiece.
“The increase in authorized capital stock of the corporation would augment the unissued shares of 140,878,427 and provide available unissued shares for future stock dividends within the next three to five years,” PSC said.
The company earlier approved the stock dividend declaration of 65 percent of the outstanding capital stock of the company of 458,435,323 shares, or equivalent to 297,982,960 common shares with par value of P1 apiece.
PSC is the country’s leading convenience store chain with 2,087 stores as of end-June.
PSC plans to spend P3.5 billion this year to open 412 stores nationwide. It said 50 stores would open in Mindanao, 50 in the Visayas and the rest in Luzon.
The company plans to spend P3.5 billion in 2017 to support store expansion, store renovation and equipment acquisition.
Aside from aggressively expanding its store network, PSC also focuses on growing same-store sales to boost profitability. Over the near term, the company aims to boost same-store sales to a high single digit from the current low single digit level.
PSC said it would improve its services to take advantage of the growing customer preference towards innovation and convenience and expand product offerings.
PSC posted a net income of P446.4 million in the first half, down 5.5 percent from P472.3 billion recorded in the same period last year.
First-half system-wide sales went up 17 percent to P18.07 billion from P15.4 billion a year ago, driven by the increase in the number of operating stores.