Share price of Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., the retail holding company of the Gokongwei Group, fell five percent Wednesday to P98 per share on a report that an institutional investor sold 28.7 million shares worth P2.8 billion ($55 million).
RRHI senior vice president and chief strategy officer Bach Johann Sebastian in a text message confirmed that an institutional investor of the company unloaded the shares. No other details were available.
The undisclosed institutional investor sold 28.7 million RRHI shares, accounting for 2.1 percent of the company’s outstanding capital stock for P97.80 apiece. The price represents a five percent discount to the stock’s closing price of P103 per share Tuesday.
Share price of RRHI has been going up over the last two months, hitting an all-time high of P108.10 per share on Tuesday, on the positive outlook on the domestic retail industry.
The stock also rose after it was included the bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange Index last on September 28 to replace Energy Development Corp.
RRHI reported a 12.8-percent increase in net income to P2.28 billion in the first half of the year .
Core net earnings, which excludes interest, equitized net earnings from the 40 percent stake in Robinsons Bank and unrealized foreign exchange effects, grew at a faster rate of 14.1 percent to P1.99 billion from P1.75 billion year-on-year.
First half consolidated net sales reached P53.5 billion, up 10.7 percent from P48.33 billion last year, brought about by stable same store sales growth (SSSG) and sales contribution of new outlets.
RRHI has six business segments—supermarkets, department stores, do-it-yourself stores; convenience stores; drug stores; and specialty stores. Some of the brand names under RRHI include “Handyman Do it Best,” “True Value,” “Topshop,” “Topman,” “Toys “R” Us” and “Ministop.”