Jollibee spending P23 B for capex

Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) is spending as much as P23 billion this year to sustain its growth momentum after posting strong profitability in 2023.

The Asian food conglomerate said it has earmarked P20 billion to P23 billion in capital expenditures as it plans to open 700 to 750 company owned and franchised stores this year.

JFC opened 658 stores in 2023, growing its store network by 6.3 percent to 6,885 stores by yearend.

For 2024 and beyond, JFC CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong said the group would continue to expand the Jollibee brand internationally as well as grow its coffee and tea business.

He said JFC would also grow exponentially in China in multiple lower tier cities while sustaining its strong growth and market leadership in the Philippines.

“We will ramp up franchising to support our global expansion. We will also accelerate our digital transformation and bring capabilities on-par with global quick service restaurant leaders to increase operational efficiency and further improve customer experience and revenue management,” Tanmantiong said.

“Our strategies combined with a portfolio of strong and valuable brands and the support of our talented global team give me the confidence that we will be able to achieve our goal to triple our value (in terms of net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company) in five years,” he said.

JFC finished 2023 strong as it saw net income attributable to equity holder of the parent company rise by 16 percent to P8.8 billion despite a one-off gain of P4.9 billion in 2022 from land conveyance and disposals.

The company also closed the year with a new systemwide sales record high of P345.32 billion, up 16.3 percent year-on-year.

System-wide sales is a measure of all sales to consumers, both from company owned and franchised stores.

JFC’s Philippine business, which accounts for 61 percent of consolidated system-wide sales, grew by 17.6 percent while the international business rose by 14.4 percent.

“Notably, our Jollibee brand, which has over 1,600 stores globally and accounts for 49 percent of JFC’s system-wide sales grew by 18.5 percent in 2023,” Tanmantiong said.

JFC likewise achieved all-time high revenues of P244.1 billion in 2023, 15.2 percent higher year-on-year, translating to new record operating profit of P14.4 billion.

Improved gross profit and operating profit margins of 120 basis points each were likewise recorded by the company last year, driven by cost efficiency initiatives and non-inventoryrelated costs control.