|
PHILIPPINE Seven Corp. (PSC) on Thursday said it expects sales to be
flat this year owing to soaring inflation and a weak domestic
economy.
“Store sales were flat, compared to what we
had last year. This year we could feel the impact of inflation and
weakening economy,” Jose Victor Paterno, PSC president and chief
executive officer, told reporters on the sidelines of the
company’s annual stockholders’ meeting.
Despite this, Paterno said the company is
estimated to have posted a 20-percent jump in its net income for the
first six months of the year.
Paterno said on the average, 7-Eleven stores
earn about P50,000 daily.
He also announced that 7-Eleven stores have
increased the prices of their food service by 5 percent.
“There may be additional increases, but the
bulk of the price increases was over and done with,” he said.
The executive said the company is optimistic on
its long-term prospects, despite concerns over inflation and other
issues that are challenging the economy this year.
“The management believes that the strategic
directions committed to in the crucial areas of franchising,
development, and marketing were validated by the company’s
performance in 2007,” Paterno said.
The company posted a net income of P54.83
million last year from P20.14 million in 2006. Franchise revenues
rose to 204.3 million from P148 million year-on-year.
About 60 percent of its 309 convenience stores
are franchised while the rest are company-owned and operated.
“By the end of 2008, we expect that more than
60 percent of our stores will be operated by franchisees,” Paterno
said.
In the next five years, the company’s
franchise stores may reach 85 percent of its total stores, he said.
By year-end, the company aims to spend P650
million to put up 400 stores, of which 70 percent would be
franchised.
Vicente Paterno, PSC chairman, said the company
is fully prepared operationally, and has adequate financial
resources to workout a store expansion this year.
“Thus the extent of store expansion up to 400
by yearend would not be limited so much by internal constraints as
by external factors, such as willingness of owners to lease viable
store sites at reasonable terms, the state of the economy, and of
the purchasing power in our trade areas,” the PSC chairman said.
In 2006, the company opened 50 stores and
upgraded existing ones for about P300 million.
-- Darwin G. Amojelar
|
