Robinsons Retail H1 profit up 26% to P1.36B

MANILA, Philippines - Fresh sales contribution from new stores and higher turnover from existing branches boosted the earnings of the Gokongwei family’s multi-format retail chain in the first half.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. said its earnings improved more than a quarter to P1.36 billion from P1.08 a year earlierr on the back of a strong growth in net sales, higher interest income and equitized net earnings.

Core net earnings, which exclude interest income, equitized net earnings from the 40-percent stake in Robinsons Bank and unrealized foreign exchange items, jumped 18 percent to P1.29 billion from P1.09 billion.

“For the first half of 2014, Robinsons Retail registered net sales of P36.98 billion, or a growth of 18.1 percent from the sales contribution of the 240 new stores, a healthy same-store sales growth of 3.2 percent and the contribution from newly-acquired businesses,” the company said.

New businesses include the six-store EZ Supermarket chain, the three-store Jaynith’s supermarket chain, and the eight Shiseido and two Benefit cosmetics stores.

“Despite increasing competition, I am very happy that we were able to sustain the strong same-store sales growth for the period,” said Robinsons Retail president and chief operating officer Robina Gokongwei-Pe.

As of end-June, Robinsons Retail had 1,180 stores, up from 940 branches a year ago. “The company is on track to meet its target of ending 2014 with approximately 1,400 stores,” Robinsons Retail said.

Robinsons Retail started yesterday operating Robinsons Easymart, its newest format in food retail segment.

The network of compact neighborhood grocery stores is the company’s “way of addressing the convenience and accessibility needs of consumers with products at competitive prices,” Gokongwei-Pe said.

The multi-format retail chain more than doubled its capital spending this year to P7 billion to fast-track the company’s organic expansion and support acquisitions. In contrast, Robinsons Retail spent P2.1 billion in 2012 and P2.8 billion in 2013 for its expansion program. In the first quarter, the retail giant invested more than P900 million for its expansion program.