Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., the retail holding company of the Gokongwei Group, said Wednesday net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company surged 45 percent in the first quarter to P923 million from a year ago, lifted by the strong performance of Rustans Supermarket.
Robinsons Retail said in a disclosure to the stock exchange core net earnings, excluding interest from bonds, equitized net earnings from the 40-percent stake in Robinsons Bank and unrealized foreign exchange gains/losses, increased 32.7 percent to P784 million.
It said net sales increased 7.3 percent in the three-month period to P40.1 billion despite the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon on March 17.
The government allowed only the essential retail formats including supermarkets, drugstores and convenience stores or establishments providing basic necessities to operate during the ECQ. These three segments comprised 77 percent of the company’s consolidated sales.
Blended same-store-sales-growth was strong at 6.9 percent in the first quarter as evidenced by the high sales induced by panic buying for essential goods such as food and medicines, most especially in March.
Supermarkets generated a record high SSSG of 18.7 percent, while the drugstore segment sustained a double-digit growth of 13.7 percent after an already high base in the comparable period last year.
Both segments significantly drove SSSG while the rest of the formats are in the negative territory.
Gross profit increased 3.1 percent to P8.7 billion, with gross margins down 90 basis points to 21.8 percent on lower back-end margins caused by the temporary closure of stores.
It said excluding the franchised stores of The Generics Pharmacy, Robinsons Retail ended the quarter with 1,891 stores comprising of 262 supermarkets, 49 department stores, 223 do-it-yourself stores, 511 convenience stores, 518 drugstores and 328 specialty stores.
About 40 percent of Robinsons Retail stores, excluding TGP, were temporarily closed during the ECQ.
