The exclusive licensor of the convenience store giant in the Philippines, Philippine Seven Corporation (PSC), has officially installed Richard Lee to be PSC’s president, while its former president and CEO, Jose Victor Paterno, will take the helm as its chairperson.
This development was disclosed at the company’s 2025 Annual Stockholders Meeting on Thursday at the Hilton Manila, in Pasay City.
“Because we work as one, we have a current strategy. We will keep on running the current projects. Since my Taiwan days, I have been working very closely with PSC, so I haven’t seen anything to be changed in the future,” said Lee in an ambush interview.
Strong strategic continuity
The PSC said the transition is a testament to the company’s strong succession planning and strategic continuity.
Paterno and the Board, headed by Jose Pardo, expressed full confidence in Lee’s leadership, citing his deep understanding of the business, operational excellence, and longstanding contributions to PSC’s growth.
Lee has played a key role in building operational alignment with PSC’s regional partners, particularly 7-Eleven Taiwan, whose technical and strategic collaboration has been instrumental to PSC’s success in the Philippine market.
“Richard has been an integral part of our leadership team for years. His steady hand, commitment to execution, and strong ties with key stakeholders in Taiwan will help carry PSC into its next chapter,” Paterno said.
500 stores this year, lower CapEx
Meanwhile, Pardo stressed that they are on track in attaining the aim to open 500 more branches this year, adding to their current 4000 stores in the country, with a lower capital expenditure (CapEx).
In October 2024, the PSC said they are allocating P6 billion to open another 500 stores for 2025.
“The slashing of the CapEx is partly because of store remodeling. So, our operations and business development team wanted to prioritize more on opening new stores, and they don’t want to lose focus on expanding our footprint. That is why, somehow, the number of stores programmed for remodeling, which is part of the P6 billion, initially, was reduced to P5.5 billion for 2025,” Pardo said.
