AllHome Corp., the listed retail arm of the Villar Group, said its income in the first semester more than doubled to P641 million, from the previous year’s P275.65 million on higher sales and margins.
For the first half, AllHome said its sales grew 39 percent to P6.72 billion from P4.854 billion last year.
For the second quarter alone, its sales doubled to P3.13 billion from last year’s P1.48 billion.
The resumption of economic activities in the second quarter has allowed AllHome stores to operate under reduced hours. The company said this was a big improvement from last year, when it was forced to close its branches in Luzon.
Gross profit margin improved to 34.6 percent from 31.7 percent through strategic pricing and by improving the sales contribution of in-house brands.
“This pandemic gave us the opportunity to look at our strategies and implement innovations and initiatives to increase operational efficiency. Those innovations led to the improvement in our margins as we recalibrate our merchandise mix and implement strategic pricing to enhance returns,” AllHome Chairman Manuel B. Villar Jr. said.
“In addition to our intensive digital expansion program, we are adjusting to optimize our stores in view of changes in the shopping behavior of our customers during this pandemic. We will be introducing the new generation of AllHome Stores soon.”
As more Filipinos get vaccinated, the company is more becoming more optimistic about its growth prospects, according to AllHome President Benjamarie Therese Serrano.
The company has so far opened five stores in the first half, bringing AllHome’s total store network to 55, some 39 of which are large format stores.
“These large stores generate the lion’s share of our sales, contributing as much as 97 percent of total retail sales for the first half. As the situation improves, our store network expansion strategy will remain focused on free-standing large format stores,” Serrano said.
The company said its omni-channel presence and partnership with logistics and on-demand delivery providers have made it a go-to-shopping place during this pandemic.
In May, the company reported that its income in the first quarter grew 27 percent to P344.2 million from last year’s P270.21 million.
Revenues in the January-to-March period rose 6 percent to P3.6 billion from last year’s P3.36 billion, the company said.
Its gross profit, earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization, and net income margins were at 31.9 percent, 22.1 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively, which were all higher by over 125 basis points from a year ago.