By JBA
Fastfood chain operator Jollibee Foods Corp. said it expects its China operations to recover by the fourth quarter of 2016 or early 2017, after it posted a weak performance in the first half amid stiff competition.
China is one of the important overseas markets of Jollibee.
Jollibee chief finance officer Ysmael Baysa said in a recent interview the company was taking steps, including introducing new products, to restore growth in China.
“We are confident that we will be able to restore growth in China. Yonghe King over the last few years, our biggest brand in China, has been enjoying good growth,” Baysa said.
“But now because our western competitors are recovering and this is now putting pressure. We think this is temporary and we will recover once we introduce new products,” he said.
Jollibee operates 424 stores in China under various brands including Yonghe King with 321, Hong Zhuang Yuan with 40, San Pin Wang with 59 and Dunkin’ Donuts with four outlets.
Jollibee last month reported that sales in China declined 5.7 percent in the second quarter due to competitive pressure on Yonghe King. However, its other brands in China continue to perform strongly, it said.
Meanwhile, Baysa said the company continued to look for acquisitions in China and the United States to accelerate expansion.
“We continue to look for companies [outside the Philippines] to acquire. Our biggest markets are China and the United States. Mostly likely [the acquisitions] will be in those countries,” Baysa said.
Baysa said the company was studying the possibility of bringing its recently acquired US-based burger chain Smashburger to other markets including the Philippines and Singapore.
“We are considering that, but the focus of Smashburger is to grow in the US and that continues to be the focus. But we are considering opening it in some international markets, one of them can be the Philippines, maybe Singapore,” Baysa said.
Smashburger has outlets in seven other countries including the United Ara Emirates and countries in South America.
Baysa also reported that its recently opened Jollibee store in Chicago was a big hit, as some of the customers even lined up the night before the actual store opening.
Share price of Jollibee closed at P236 on Dec. 9.
