Jollibee Foods Corp, the biggest fast-food chain in the Philippines, expects second quarter sales growth to be weaker than the first quarter due to higher costs, its chief financial officer said on Wednesday.
Yam Bayas said sales by Jollibee, which outsells McDonalds and KFC in its home market, probably recorded single-digit growth in the second quarter from a year. Jollity's revenues grew 16 percent to 7.6 billion pesos ($143.8 million) in the first quarter.
System-wide sales, a measure of all sales from company-owned and franchised stores, rose 15.2 percent to 10.4 billion pesos in the first quarter. "Sales will be slower in the second quarter compared to the first quarter.
We're still growing but at a single digit," Bayas told reporters at Jollity's annual shareholders' meeting. "This year will be a difficult year considering consumer spending is down and the cost of utilities remains high," he said.
"We will still grow for 2006 but at a slower pace." Jollibee saw a 25 percent rise in net income in the first quarter to 448.7 million pesos on the back of strong revenue growth during the period. Its shares ended unchanged at 33 pesos on Wednesday, while the main stock index rose 0.26 percent to 2,262.34 points.