Wilcon Depot Inc., a leading home improvement and construction material supplier, plans to build more stores to increase its network to 100 outlets by 2025.
Wilcon chairman emeritus William Belo said in an interview following the annual stockholders’ meeting Monday the company was setting a new five-year target after being on track to hit 65 stores by 2020, one year ahead of the goal.
The company did not disclose the planned capital spending for the new 35 stores. It said it was securing the sites for the additional stores.
Belo said the new stores could still be well within Metro Manila, citing the growth opportunities within the area. The company is also looking to expand its presence in areas outside Metro Manila.
Wilcon spends roughly P200 million to construct one outlet with an average floor size of between 8,000 and 10,000 square meters and another P110 million for inventory.
Meanwhile, Wilcon chief operating officer Rosemarie Ong said the company was poised to hit its growth momentum in the second half of the year with revenues expected to grow by double digits this year.
“Wilcon is always bullish on the country’s economic landscape, we will continue with our expansion,” Ong said.
She said full-year sales growth were expected at “high-teens,” while net income would rise by “low-teens” as changes in the accounting rules altered the recognition of certain expenses and due to increased operating costs.
Wilcon said the US-China trade war would have a positive effect on the company, citing that Chinese manufacturers would be pressed to find markets and offer cheaper prices for their products.
Wilcon reported a net income of ₱484 million in the first quarter of the year, up 18.2 percent year-on-year, mainly due to a strong net sales growth and healthy gross profit margin expansion.
First-quarter net sales rose 21.9 percent to ₱5.734 billion on the back of a 7.9-percent same-store-sales growth and contribution from new stores.
Sales from depot format stores, totaled P5.5 billion, representing 96 percent of total sales for the period. The figure is 22.5 percent higher than P4.5 billion in net sales in the first quarter of 2018 due to the contribution from new depots and the eight-percent same-store-sales growth.
