Robinsons Retail nets profit

Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. recorded a 6.2 percent increase in core net earnings to

billion last year on the back of strong same store sales growth (SSSG) across all formats.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, RRHI said unaudited attributable net income inched up 2.0 percent to billion last year from billion in 2017.

Consolidated net sales improved by 15.1 percent to billion in 2018 from billion in 2017 driven by the strong blended SSSG of 5.9 percent, the sales contribution from the 104 net new stores opened in 2018 and the onemonth consolidation of the Rustan Supercenters, Inc.

The supermarket segment continued to account for the biggest share of sales at 47 percent in 2018. Its share to total net sales is expected to further increase this year due to the full year consolidation of Rustan.

The strong SSSG in 2018 brought about by the increase in disposable income from the reduction in personal income tax was largely driven by the supermarket segment which recorded SSSG of 7.6 percent, followed by specialty stores at 6.9 percent, convenience stores at 5.1 percent, do-it-yourself (DIY) at 5.0 percent, drugstores at 3.3 percent, and department store at 2.3 percent.

Blended gross profit expanded by 15.0 percent to billion from billion the previous year. Meanwhile, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) rose by 7.6 percent to billion.

Excluding the franchised stores of The Generics Pharmacy, Robinsons Retail ended the year with a total of 1,910 stores comprising of 252 supermarkets, 52 department stores, 210 do-ityourself stores, 499 convenience stores, 510 drugstores and 387 specialty stores.

The group’s gross floor area expanded by 28.8 percent yearon-year to 1.48 million square meters.