ROBINSONS Retail Holdings Inc. said its income was almost flat during the first quarter of the year to P785 million, from the previous year’s P781 million, after it booked an unrealized foreign-exchange loss from its dollar-denominated investments.
Core net earnings for the first quarter ending March, which excludes interest income, equitized net earnings from its 40-percent stake in Robinsons Bank and forex gains or losses, expanded by 9 percent to P696 million, from P635 million last year.
Consolidated net sales for the first quarter grew 15 percent to P22.7 billion from P19.7 billion, arising from the robust same-store sales growth of 9 percent and the sales contribution of new stores.
Robinsons Retail operated a total of 1,514 stores, an additional 158 stores from April 2015 to March 2016 and expanded its total gross floor area by 7.8 percent year-on-year to approximately 967,000 square meters.
It said the company saw a strong same-store sales from all of its segments, including supermarkets at 8.7 percent, department stores at 7.5 percent, do-it-yourself at 9.8 percent, convenience stores at 7 percent, drugstores at 10.7 percent and specialty stores at 12.7 percent.
“Our first-quarter results affirm our optimism for 2016. Increased consumption from election-related spending and lower fuel and utility costs, combined with improved customer service on our part, has boosted our consolidated same-store sales performance to a record high. Building a solid foundation for long-term profitable growth, we are working hard to sustain this strong start for the rest of the year,” said Robina Gokongwei-Pe, the company’s president and COO.
Robinsons Retail’s unit Robinsons Supermarket Corp. has partnered with HappyFresh Philippines for online grocery-delivery service within the 5-kilometer radius of 20 selected supermarket branches in Metro Manila. The service was launched over the weekend. This will initially be offered to residents of Metro Manila and, eventually, to other urban centers in the country, it said.
“Both companies believe in the success of the partnership given Robinsons Supermarket’s strong equity on fresh and wellness. As part of the service, the grocery products will be delivered within a specified time right at the doorstep of the customers,” the company said.
Robinsons Supermarket will be the very first launch partner of HappyFresh in the supermarket category.
HappyFresh will initially offer around 4,000 stock keeping unit (skus) in its online-grocery platform, but this will eventually be expanded to include the entire in-store product assortment of Robinsons Supermarket, which number around 15,000 skus to 20,000 skus for the customers to select and buy, it said.
Robinsons Supermarket can use HappyFresh’s platform to run special promotions, as well as targeted promotions.