Competing retailers, contrasting earnings

Retailers Puregold Price Club and Metro Retail Stores Group reported mixed earnings results in the first six months, with the former reporting growth while Metro Retail reported a decline during the period.

In separate disclosures to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), Lucio Co’s Puregold Price reported consolidated net income of P3.08 billion, up 25.6 percent compared to P2.49 billion posted a year ago.

Puregold consolidated net sales increased 13.2 percent to P64.03 billion, with 79 percent of the revenues attributed to the Puregold Stores network and 21 percent from S&R Membership warehouse clubs and S&R New York Style Pizza stores.

As of end June 2018, Puregold Group has a total of 393 stores nationwide. These include 341 Puregold stores, 16 S&R membership shopping warehouse and 36 S&R New York Style quick-service restaurants or QSR.

The Gaisano family’s Metro Retail Stores Group, meanwhile, reported a P344 million profit for the first semester despite the fire that damaged a department store and supermarket in Ayala Center Cebu earlier in the year. This was lower than the 16.7 percent posted a year ago.

But the company posted a 9.5 percent increase in retail sales for the first half of 2018.

“The year may have started on a challenging note, but our retail sales performance remains strong and this has allowed us to move forward with greater stability and confidence,” said MRSGI chairman and CEO Frank Gaisano.

“We started the re-building of our flagship store in Cebu and we thank our loyal customers for their overwhelming patronage of our pop-up stores in the same mall. Rest assured that we are doing our best to accelerate the first phase of the store’s re-launch within the year, he added.

The company continues to invest in nationwide expansion in the National Capital Region (NCR) and in Eastern and Western Visayas including the recent opening of the Metro Store at Ayala Malls Feliz in Pasig City; the recent groundbreaking of Metro Hypermarket in Baybay, Leyte and the opening of Metro Department Store and Supermarket in Bacolod within the year.

At present, MRSGI operates in 51 stores in Central, Western and Eastern Visayas as well as in Central Luzon, Metro Manila and South Luzon, with three store formats comprising a department store, a supermarket and a hypermarket.