Jollibee Suffers Q1 Losses amidst Coronavirus

Fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) suffers a financial hit amidst the COVID pandemic, and the worst is yet to come.

Reversing the P1.46B net profit in the same period last year, Jollibee has suffered a P1.79B net loss over the past 3 months.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, JFC chief financial officer Ysmael Baysa had this to say: “JFC’s financial performance in 2020 will not be a good one. It will incur even higher losses in the second quarter when the full impact of the lockdowns on business will be felt.”

Although the present seems worrisome, Baysa stated that “we expect the business to start recovering in the third and fourth quarters but we assume that the recovery will be slow.” Coupled with JFC’s ‘strong’ balance sheet, he added the company is capable of surviving the pandemic, “even in worse case scenarios.”

As of the end of Q1, the following JFC establishments have been temporarily closed:

69% of stores in the Philippines;
23% in Europe and the Middle East;
16% in the USA; and
6% in China.