Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc., a leading chained full-service restaurant, posted a consolidated net income ₱418 million in the first six months of the year, up five percent from P396 million year-on-year.
Shakey’s in a disclosure to the stock exchange attributed the company’s positive first-half performance to the ongoing store network expansion and improved margins brought about by lower input costs and enhanced operating efficiencies both at the store and corporate level.
Systemwide sales, a measure of both company-owned and franchised stores’ topline, rose eight percent in the first half of 2019 to P5 billion, driven mainly by branch openings, while same-store sales growth (SSSG) was flat during the period.
Shakey’s said SSSG, however, improved in the second quarter after reverting to positive growth from a negative one percent in the first three months of the year.
“We are pleased to see sales pick up and SSSG revert back to positive territory in the second quarter. We look forward to increasing contributions from new stores, with the opening of at least 15 more outlets in the Philippines during the second half of 2019,” said Shakey’s president and chief executive Vicente Gregorio.
“We’ve consolidated Peri-Peri beginning June 1 and though still relatively small to total, we remain very excited about its prospects,” Gregorio added.
He said the overall business was still challenged by continued competition in the restaurant space and the promotion-heavy initiatives of several industry players.
“We will likely miss our target SSSG of 3 to 5 percent for this year, but remain positive that we can make up for it via margin expansion and bottom line improvements with the efficiency-enhancing and cost reduction initiatives in place. Margins in the second quarter already show some of the results from these measures, and we will continue to intensify our efforts in this area,” he said.
Net income margins in the first six months of 2019 increased 10.8 percent from 10.7 percent the year before. Jenniffer B. Austria
“Despite a slower start, we are maintaining our goal of increasing recurring net income by double-digits this year and extending to 2019 our 15-year streak of growing earnings by double-digits. We will remain focused on strengthened execution across dine-in and delivery, as well as on the expansion of our network of stores. We will also pursue further cost improvement and margin-enhancing measures to help shore up profitability and create increased value for our guests,” said Gregorio.
The company has a total store count of 259 as of end June, consisting of three Shakey’s abroad, 233 in the local market and 23 from Peri-Peri.
