ROBINSONS Retail Holdings Inc. reported profit in the first quarter of the year grew 45 percent to P923 million, from P637 million in the same period a year ago.
Sales rose 7.3 percent to P40.1 billion, from P37.37 billion last year.
The company said the growth was achieved “despite the temporary store closure of the discretionary formats starting March 17, 2020 after the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila and Luzon.”
Robinsons Retail noted only the essential retail formats — supermarkets, drugstores and convenience stores — which are establishments providing basic necessities are allowed to operate by the government during this period.
The company said these three segments comprised 77 percent of consolidated sales.
Blended same store sales growth (SSSG) was at 6.9 percent.
“Supermarkets generated a record high SSSG of 18.7 percent and the drugstore segment sustained a double-digit growth of 13.7 percent coming from 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,” the company said.
Gross profit rose 3.1 percent to P8.7 billion, with gross margins down by 90 basis points (bps) to 21.8 percent primarily due to lower back-end margins caused by the temporary closure of stores.
Robinsons Retail said operating income grew 17.4 percent to P1.7 billion with earnings before income tax margins up by 40 bps to 4.2 percent, lifted by the better performance in Rustan.
It said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 7.6 percent to P3.3 billion, from P3.1 billion last year, with EBITDA margins at 8.3 percent.
Robinsons Retail said it continues to be in a net cash position of over P27.7 billion as of end-March.
“The company spent a total of P558 million in capital expenditures for the quarter,” it added.
Excluding the franchised stores of The Generics Pharmacy (TGP), Robinsons Retail ended the quarter with a total of 1,891 stores, comprising of 262 supermarkets, 49 department stores, 223 do-it-yourself stores, 511 convenience stores, 518 drugstores and 328 specialty stores.
The company said approximately 40 percent of its stores (excluding TGP) are temporarily closed during the enhanced community quarantine.