Wilcon Depot’s net income rose 41% as new stores helped boost sales

WILCON Depot, Inc. P851 million in the first quarter of 2022 reported a 40.7% increase in net revenue on Wednesday as sales increased, partly due to new stores.

“We are pleased with our strong start to the year because our customers returned to our stores when growth in the Omicron variant slowed in February,” said Lauren Belo-Cincochan, chief executive of Wilcon Depot, in a statement.

He said sales growth was comparatively lower in January at the height of the virus growth, but the company was able to reverse the downward trend to end the quarter with 8.6% growth and 14.6% total net sales growth.

“We are focused on expanding our store network, especially with the very encouraging results of this first quarter,” added Mrs. Belo-Cincochan.

Depot Format Store sales rose 15% to P7.5 billion, accounting for 97.5% of total net sales, while sales of its small format store Home Essentials fell 1.3% to P138 million.

The home improvement company said the balance of the project sales contribution was P53 million, an increase of 11.3% year-on-year.

Operating expenses rose 13.8% to P1.77 billion, mainly due to expansion-related costs in outsourced services, trucking, utilities, salaries, depreciation and payments.

The total operating costs, including lease-related interest costs or rental costs, totaled P1.9 billion.

Other operations-related revenue rose 42.7% to P84 million due to increased supply support and increase in delivery fee collection in terms of higher business volume.

Other non-operating income, including interest income and foreign exchange gains, fell from P10 million to P3 million due to low investment funds.

“We are on track to achieve our 100-strong branch network by the end of 2025. We opened our 74^M In March and we will open seven more branches this year. We hope that our return to pre-epidemic growth will continue unabated, “added Mrs. Belo-Sinkochan.

Shares of Wilcon Depot fell 21.75%, or 50 cents, to close at P8.00 on the stock exchange. – Luisa Maria Jacinta c. Jackson