Restaurant chain operator Jollibee Foods Corp. said Monday it earmarked P12.2 billion in capital expenditures this year to fund the opening of new stores as it expects sales and profit to recover in 2021.
Jollibee said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it plans to roll out 450 stores worldwide across various brands.
“We look forward to sustained recovery of the business as the world gradually returns to normalcy, aided by the introduction of new vaccines. We plan to open 400 plus new stores worldwide most of which will be outside of the Philippines, particularly in North America, Vietnam and China,” Jollibee chief executive Ernest Tanmantiong said.
“We aim for very strong sales and profit recovery in 2021 versus 2020. In 2021 and the years ahead, JFC’s sales and profit growth will be driven by its international business. We believe that out of this pandemic, we will emerge as a stronger business and organization,” he said.
Jollibee’s returned to profitability in the fourth quarter, after three quarters of losses. The company reported a net income of P2 billion in the fourth quarter, down 34.5 percent from the restated net income P3.12 billion in the same period a year earlier.
It said fourth-quarter system-wide sales, a measure of all sales to consumers, both from company-owned and franchised stores also decreased by 31.9 percent to P49.5 billion.
All regions in the Jollibee group generated profit in the fourth quarter: Philippines, China, North America (Philippine brands), Europe, Middle East, Africa and other parts of Asia including Highlands Coffee in Vietnam.
The operating losses of the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Smashburger brands were substantially lower compared in the fourth quarter compared to their operating losses in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Jollibee said that in the whole year of 2020, it incurred a net loss of P11.49 billion, a turnaround from P7.3-billion net income in 2019.
Full-year system-wide sales decreased by 29.9 percent to P36.7 billion from a year ago, as a result of permanent store closures and lower sales per store amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jollibee said it continued to make progress on reopening stores that were closed temporarily. It said that as of end-December 2020, about 96 percent of the group’s worldwide outlets were already operating.
The share price of Jollibee rose P1.40 Monday to P180.10.