Jollibee declares 28¢ cash dividend

Fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. approved another cash dividend of 28 centavos per share to shareholders of record as of Dec. 9 to be paid on Dec. 28, the company told the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday.

The additional cash dividend brings Jollibee’s total cash dividends this year to 55 centavos per share representing a 22-percent increase over the 45-centavo per share cash dividend given in 2004. Last June, Jollibee declared a 27-centavo per share cash dividend.

Jollibee operates the largest fastfood chain in the country. At the end of the third quarter, it had a total of 1,092 restaurants in the Philippines (512 Jollibee, 314 Chowking, 231 Greenwich and 35 Delifrance) and 131 restaurants overseas (22 Jollibee, 15 Chowking and 94 Yonghe King).

It plans to continuously expand its store network worldwide and acquire new businesses in order to drive long-term growth.

Last month, Jollibee completed the acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding shares of Red Ribbon Bakeshop chains in the Philippines and in the United States. The company acquired 100 percent of the issued and outstanding shares of Red Ribbon for P1.8 billion. Of this amount, P1.3 billion was paid on the closing date and the balance of P500 million to be paid in three equal installments over the next three years following the date of closing.

Red Ribbon Bakeshop had a total of 146 stores as of October 2005, including 16 located in the United States with a combined revenues of P2.5 billion annually.

Jollibee reported a 7.9-percent drop in its third quarter profit to P273.2 million as rising operating costs continued to squeeze margins. On a year-to-date basis, however, the fastfood operator managed to boost its net profit by six percent to P1.2 billion.

The income drop was attributed to weak consumer spending in the food sector due to higher oil prices which translated to higher transport fares.

System-wide retail sales, which include both company-owned and franchise stores, amounted to P9.4 billion in the third quarter, or an increase of 9.9-percent year-on-year. For the first nine months, system-wide retail sales totaled P28.7 billion, up 12 percent.