Wilcon profit up 9% to P995 M

Wilcon Depot Inc., the listed home improvement and finishing construction supplies retailer, reported a net income of P995 million in the first half, up 8.8 percent year-on-year.

This as the company churned in sales of P11.8 billion, 17.8 percent higher than the previous year.

Wilcon president and CEO Lorraine Belo-Cincochan said the company is optimistic about the prospects for the rest of the year.

“Our sales volume has been almost always higher during the second half and thus we believe that we will be able to pull up our earnings growth to low teens level for the whole year as we previously guided,” she said.

In a disclosure yesterday, the company attributed the double digit sales growth to the strong performance in the markets where the company operates as well as the steady contribution of new stores, totaling P1.3 billion.

“The high-base and more mature markets, Metro Manila and Calabarzon, together accounting for majority of total net sales, mainly drove the company’s total growth,” Wilcon said in its regulatory filing.

Four of the depots which the company opened last year are in the Calabarzon region while the remaining five are scattered in different regions.

The home essentials format, meanwhile, contributed 2.8 percent of total net sales amounting to P329 million.

The increasing contribution of in-house and exclusive brands’ sales to total net sales plus the improving margins of the nonexclusive brands pushed gross profits up by 21.9 percent to P3.8 billion by the end of the first half.

As a result, inhouse and exclusive brands’ sales now comprise 49 percent of the total versus 46.4 percent in 2018.

Income from merchandise and other suppliers surged 51.2 percent to P140 million amid the increasing volume of business.

On the other hand, the company’s interest income slipped 6.8 percent to P84 million as a result of the continuous deployment of the remaining proceeds of the company’s initial public offering two years ago. These proceeds were spent for the construction of new stores and the distribution of dividends.

Wilcon spent P1.31 billion during the period, largely on new store construction and partly on furniture and equipment, computer software and transportation equipment.