Higher sales lifted Jollibee’s third-quarter profit by 15.3% to P2.8b

Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) said Tuesday its third-quarter net income grew 15.3 percent to P2.8 billion from P2.4 billion in the same period last year, boosted by strong domestic and international growth and contribution from recently-acquired South Korean coffee brand Compose Coffee.

JFC said in a disclosure to the stock exchange consolidated system-wide sales (SWS) in the third quarter increased 13.2 percent to P98.48 billion on the back of a 5.7-percent hike in same-store-sales (SSS) growth and new store openings.

“During the third quarter, we successfully completed the acquisition of Compose Coffee and the results that we are reporting today include the impact of this value-accretive transaction. Compose Coffee contributed 11.5 percent to the growth of the international business’ SWS and added 2,580 stores to the global store network as at end of the quarter,” the company said.

Jollibee Group chief executive Ernesto Tanmantiong said the newly-acquired Compose Coffee contributed 11.5 percent to the growth of the international business’ sales and added 2,580 stores to the global store network as of end-September 2024.

Operating income increased 11.6 percent, with the growth coming from the Philippine business and the consolidation of Compose Coffee which delivered nearly P500 million income from Aug. 16. to Sept. 30, 2024.

The Philippine business saw an 8.5-percent increase in SWS and 6.4-percent growth in SSS, while the international business grew SWS by 9 percent and SSS by 4.5 percent.

“While we were up against a record quarter last year, we achieved an 11.6-percent increase in operating income and an 80 basis points (bps) improvement in gross profit margin,” said Jollibee Group chief financial and risk officer Richard Shin.

Nine-month net income also jumped 24.1 percent to P8.46 billion from P6.82 billion in 2023 as SWS rose 12 percent to P281 billion from P251.1 billion.

The Jollibee Group’s store network reached to 9,598, including 3,340 in the Philippines and 6,258 overseas as of end- September 2024.

Jollibee’s board approved a cash dividend of P1.82 per share for a total cash dividend of P2.97 billion for the full year of 2024. This is 29.1 percent higher than the cash dividend declared in 2023.