Max’s profit grows 3% in Jan-Sept

MANILA, Philippines - Max’s Group Inc. (MGI) closed the first nine months of the year with a net income of P380.56 million, up by only three percent due to the historical slowdown in the third quarter.

“The third quarter is normally our lean period owing to the wet climate and other cyclical factors. Nonetheless, the historical slowdown should reverse ushering into the Christmas season,” MGI president and CEO Robert F. Trota said.

“We encountered higher commodity prices aligned with inflationary movement. While mitigating measures are in place, we constantly improve our capabilities and menu mix to manage rising input materials,” he added.

Revenues rose 11 percent to P8.09 billion as  system-wide sales grew 12 percent to P11.09 billion.

Restaurant sales, alone, climbed eight percent to P6.72 billion, driven by the 22 additional branches opened during the third quarter, and steady same store sales performance.

MGI also disclosed plans to shift to quicker formats for certain brands to benefit from higher volume turnover and lower fixed overhead.  

Commissary sales increased 19 percent to P971.03 million while revenues from franchise, royalty and continuing license fees jumped 39 percent to P399.87 million.

 So far this year, MGI added 55 new stores, which include 11 international branches. This brings overall branch count to 611 stores with 44 located abroad.

For its overseas business, MGI said it continued to convert its existing development pipeline of 91 outlets into physical stores.   

During the third quarter alone, MGI unveiled flagship stores for Yellow Cab Pizza in Beijing and Changsha Province in China, as well as Sizzlin’ Steak in Vietnam.

“From securing territories, focus is now centered on store building activities to boost our recurring income base. In the same way, we remain in pursuit of leads into other markets,” Max’s Group International CEO Peter King said.

MGI said it was also committed to further strengthen its support infrastructure, anchored on a shared services model.

The company recently invested in a modern human resources information system designed to electronically consolidate people-related requirements.

 The system is expected to reduce manual processing, translating to maximized productivity across the business.

As for its capital expenditures, MGI has mapped key growth strategies to ensure effective deployment of assets into value-adding ventures.