Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., the retail holding company of the Gokongwei Group, posted an unaudited net income of P5.1 billion in 2018, up two percent from P4.9 billion in the previous year.
Core net income, which excludes interest from bonds, equitized net earnings from the 40-percent stake in Robinsons Bank, unrealized forex gains or losses and non-recurring expenses, amounted to P5 billion, up 6.2 percent from the 2017 level.
“This was primarily due to the 5-percent lift in operating income on the back of strong same store sales growth across all formats,” said RRHI in a disclosure to the stock exchange.
Consolidated net sales increased 15 percent to P132.7 billion in 2018 from P115.2 billion in 2017, driven by the strong SSSG of 5.9 percent.
The sales contribution from the 104 net new stores opened during the 12 months of 2018 and the one-month consolidation of the Rustan Supercenters Inc. also contributed to higher revenues in 2018l
RRHI’s supermarket segment continued to account for the biggest share of sales at 47 percent in 2018. The 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, DIY at 5 percent, drugstores at 3.3 percent, and department store at 2.3 percent,” RRHI said.
Excluding the franchised stores of The Generics Pharmacy, RRHI ended the year with 1,910 stores comprising of 252 supermarkets, 52 department stores, 210 do-it-yourself outlets, 499 convenience stores, 510 drugstores and 387 specialty outlets.
The group’s gross floor area expanded 29 percent to 1.48 million square meters.
The retail company in 2018 spent P4.4 billion in capital expenditures.
Share price of RRHI on Tuesday dropped 4.6 percent to P78.90.