Jollibee Foods Corp., the largest fastfood chain in the country, said it will spend P10.4 billion in 2016 mainly to finance the rollout of more stores both here and abroad.
Jollibee told the stock exchange it would earmark at least P7.5 billion from the programmed spending to fund new store investments and outlet renovations and allot the balance to finance commissary expansion.
“For 2016, we plan to accelerate the expansion of our store network, opening even more stores than in 2015—in the Philippines and in all regions abroad,” said Jollibee chief executive Ernesto Tanmantiong.
“We also plan to enter new countries such as Malaysia, Oman, Canada, Italy, and the United Kingdom through our Jollibee brand and open more stores in countries where we already have presence such as Singapore, Vietnam and the United States,” he said.
“To achieve this strong business growth in 2016 and in the years ahead, we will continue to build our organization capability particularly in store network expansion, supply chain and information technology,” he added.
Meanwhile, Jollibee reported net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company in the third quarter of the year rose 7.3 percent to P1.26 billion from P1.17 billion recorded year-on-year.
Third quarter system-wide sales expanded 13.7 percent to P32.32 billion from P28.41 billion in 2014, driven by a 6.1-percent increase in store network and about 7.6 percent same store sales growth on a worldwide basis.
Sales in the Philippines expanded 13.6 percent during the quarter against a year ago, while total sales of foreign businesses increased 14.2 percent. Revenues from China grew 9.7 percent, while those of the United States and Southeast Asia and the Middle East jumped 19 percent by 25 percent, respectively.
“Sales growth accelerated to 13.7 percent in the 3rd quarter compared with 8.9 percent in the first half of the year. We look forward to opening a total of at least 300 stores in 2015 on a worldwide basis, a milestone in JFC’s history,” Tanmantiong said.
Net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company in the first nine months of the year increased 6.9 percent to P3.8 billion from P3.6 billion in 2014, while systemwide sales rose 10.5 percent to P94.47 billion from P85.47 billion a year ago.
Jollibee, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Bee Good! Inc., last month completed the acquisition of a 40-percent stake in US-based burger chain Smashburger for $99.47 million.