MANILA - The Philippine operator of the 7-Eleven chain of convenience stores reported higher earnings in the second quarter because of improved sales, higher margins and continued store expansion.
In a regulatory filing, Philippine Seven Corp. said its net income rose 32.2 percent to P107.9 million in the April to June period, from P81.6 million in the same three-month period last year.
This was attributed to the surge in operating income, which grew by almost five times on the back of "growth in sales generated by mature stores and better margin resulting from increasing share of higher yielding categories."
The second-quarter growth pushed earnings in the six-month period ending June to P164.3 million, up 38.3 percent from P118.7 million last year.
System-wide sales, which pertains to retail sales of all corporate and franchise operated stores, expanded by 27.5 percent to P3.376 billion in the second quarter, leading to a 29.1 percent increase in first-half sales to P6.5 billion.
"Higher average sales can be attributed to external factors such as solid economic growth and good weather conditions. Internally, a new inventory management system was implemented and effective execution of promotion programs contributed favorably," PSC said.
At the end of the first half, new store openings reached 59 to raise the company's store count to 746.
source: interaksyon.com
