Wilcon Depot Inc. said profit in the first half of the year dropped 16.9 percent to P1.51 billion from P1.82 billion in the same period last year.
Sales reached P17.18 billion, up 0.2 percent from P17.14 billion, driven mainly by sales from new stores offset by the decline in comparable sales of 4.6 percent.
“Five new stores were opened during the first half, bringing to 95 the total number of branches by the end of the period,” the company said.
Wilcon said sales from the depot-format stores, which comprised 95.8 percent of total net sales, were lower by 1 percent to total P16.469 billion.
Sales from new depots grew 4.1 percent, though same store sales was down 5.1 percent.
“The smaller Do-It-Wilcon (DIW) format, recorded net sales of P488 million, a 39.1-percent increase, contributed mainly by new DIW stores. Same store sales for this smaller store format declined by 3.1 percent,” it said.
Wilcon said the rest of its sales, at 1.3 percent of total, was accounted for by project sales or sales to major institutional accounts, which amounted to P227 million, up 41.5 percent.
“Gross profit margin rate expanded by 30 basis points to 39.8 percent, due mainly to product mix, resulting in gross profit of P6.839 billion, up 1.0 percent,” it said.
Operating expenses including lease-related interest expense grew 8.6 percent to P5.077 billion while operating other income reached P244 million, down 22.1 percent.
Lorraine Belo-Cincochan, Wilcon chief executive officer, said the company is “looking forward to a better second half as we continue to push for higher sales while re-aligning resources deployed with the current market demand.”
“We are continuing with our store network expansion program, opening five new stores for the first half and on track to reach our 100- store target by the end of the year,” she also said.
Cincochan in June said Wilcon is looking to spend P2.1 billion to P2.2 billion this year to continuously expand the business as it works to bring the company to back to its growth track.
