Retailers Wilcon Depot Inc. and Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. posted weaker sales in the second quarter as business operations were affected by the various lockdowns imposed by the government to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Wilcon said in a disclosure to the stock exchange second-quarter net income fell by 95.3 percent to P24 million from P511 million recorded in the same period last year, following the closure of stores under the enhanced community quarantine.
Wilcon said that with the easing of quarantine restrictions, it reopened all 58 stores.
Wilcon president and chief executive Lorraine Belo-Cincochan said the company saw a steady ramp-up of sales from the time all stores were re-opened on May 16.
“Since we reopened on May 16, we saw continued improvement in our sales performance week per week. We felt confident enough about the market that we proceeded with the opening of two new depots in Central Luzon in June. We now have 60 branches, of which 53 are depots and seven are Home Essentials,” Belo-Cincochan said.
Robinsons Retail also reported a 33.2-percent decline in net income in the second quarter to P720 million from P1.07 billion a year earlier.
Second-quarter consolidated net sales dropped 12.4 percent to P34.9 billion from P39.86 billion a year ago.
Majority of the company’s stores across all formats resumed operations on May 16 following the relaxed quarantine restrictions. However, operating hours were shortened and foot traffic was down.
Blended same-store sales declined 13.9 percent in the second quarter. The SSSG of the supermarket and drugstore segment eased in the second quarter, from a high double-digit SSSG in the first quarter.
Robinsons Retail had a portfolio of 1,890 stores including 262 supermarkets, 49 department stores, 222 do-it-yourself stores, 512 convenience stores, 520 drugstores and 325 specialty stores as of end-June.