Metro Retail posts P965.4M profit

CEBU-BASED retailer Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. (MRSGI) capped its 2018 performance with a net profit of P965.4 million.

Twelve-month profit declined by a minimal 1.2 percent versus the prior year, highlighting a strong performance despite a fire that damaged a department store and supermarket in Ayala Center Cebu in January 2018.

The rest of the stores remained positive and continued to exceed the prior year’s performance on the back of steady same-store sales growth of 5.1 percent and 110 basis points improvement in same-store gross profit margins.

Total sales decreased by 5.6 percent to P33.05 billion for the year, but gross profit margins posted another 60 basis points increase versus the prior year. This brings the growth in gross profit margins to 200 basis points over the last two years, arising from improvements in inventory and margin productivity, price competitiveness and merchandise assortment.

“Our healthy bottomline figures demonstrate the efficacy of our business strategies that have aided us in being resilient over internal and external tremors,” said Frank S. Gaisano, MRSGI chairman and chief executive officer.

“Despite the adversities we faced, our results reflect our ongoing success in delivering a broad and compelling assortment of goods and merchandise to today’s value-driven shoppers,” he continued.

MRSGI president and chief operating officer Manuel C. Alberto said the company will continue to leverage on the country’s robust consumer spending and general economic optimism to continue on its expansion trajectory in Luzon and Visayas.

“More than three and a half decades of providing quality merchandise and great value to our shoppers have ensured the solid position of Metro Retail Stores in the industry. We will continue adopting more strategic growth plans to ensure improved profitability as well as customer satisfaction,” Alberto said.

The company continues to increase its presence in emerging business hubs in Luzon and Visayas with the recent opening of Metro Department Store and Supermarket at Ayala Malls Feliz in Pasig City, and at Ayala Capitol in Bacolod City. The company is scheduled to complete the reconstruction of Metro Ayala Cebu store by the second half of 2019.

The company also entered into a joint venture agreement with the Province of Samar to develop a mixed use property that will house another Metro department store and supermarket. /