The Philippines’ Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) earned an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of nearly PHP2.53 billion ($44 million) from its fried chicken chain Jollibee and Highlands Coffee chain in Vietnam in the first half of this year.
Specifically, JFC earned nearly PHP1.36 billion ($23.6 million) from Jollibee Vietnam in the period, up 44% year-on-year.
The fried chicken chain took the lead in the local market in share, revenue, and net income despite being third in network with 218 stores, behind Lotteria (265) and KFC (230), the firm said in its Q2 financial statements.
A Jollibee store in Ho Chi Minh City, southern Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Saigon Times.
Meanwhile, JFC reported that Highlands Coffee, a Vietnamese-style coffee chain, posted an EBITDA of PHP1.17 billion ($20.4 million) in January-June, up 5.8% year-on-year.
JFC also noted that Highlands Coffee expanded its store network by 46 to 896 outlets in Vietnam, including 716 co-owned stores and 134 franchised facilities.
Highlands Coffee was founded by overseas Vietnamese citizen David Thai in 1999. In 2011, Jollibee acquired a stake in the chain before taking a controlling interest the following year.
In an online media briefing in June, Jollibee chief financial officer Richard Shin said: “The numberic says it can go IPO but we want to be very thoughtful and think about the best way we can move forward”.
He added: “Highlands Coffee going IPO in Vietnam as a standalone company is not something that we believe is the best way to take this forward”.