Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc.

Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for joining our unaudited results covering for the full year of 2022. I'm Gina Dipaling, the company's investor relations officer. The panelists for this call are our president and CEO, Ms. Rubina Gokongweche, our CFO, Ms. Malin Kasiban, the managing director of our supermarket business, Mr. Stanley Koh, the Group General Manager of the Drugstore Segment, Ms. Christine Tuarez, the Group General Manager of BAY, Mr. Ted Sugono, the Group General Manager of Robinson's Department Store and Toys R Us, Ms. Selena Chua, the General Manager of Uncle John's, Mr. Suresh Ramadingam, and then the Group General Manager of the Appliance Segment, Mr. Jovi Santos. This presentation will cover the company's financial performance in fourth quarter and full year of 2022, an update on our store network and some recent company developments. A brief question and answer session will follow after the formal presentation. As a reminder, for the Q&A portion, please use the Q&A function. on the dashboard to type in your question. We would appreciate if you can limit your questions to a maximum of three and then you can keep up in. You may also use the raise hand function if you would like to ask your questions live. If you have any concerns regarding the sound quality of the call, kindly message Angelo Torres of our corporate planning and investor relations team directly. With that, I will turn you over to our president and CEO. Okay.

Good afternoon. Here are the highlights of our consolidated results as of end 2022. Consolidated net sales grew by 16.6% to 178.8 billion. Blended same-store sales growth of 11.8%. Capital expenditures of 4.7 billion up by 92.8%. 60 BIPs gross margin improvement to 23.6%. 90 BIPs EBIT margin expansion to 4.9%. Net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company grew by 26.7% to 5.7 billion. Store portfolio of 2,310 stores and 2,151 TGP franchise stores nationwide. Our store count stood at 2,310 as of end 2022, composed of 324 supermarkets, 993 drug stores, 223 DIY stores, 51 department stores, 424 convenience stores, and 295 specialty stores. We also have 2,151 franchise stores of TGP. We added 102 new stores in 2022. Both came from supermarkets and drugstores. Serving as fulfillment centers for our store network, our e-commerce operations is complementary to our store network. Gold Card, our very own e-commerce site, currently has 14 banners in the platform. RRHI was able to sustain strong top-line trends, delivering revenue growth of 16.5% in the fourth quarter and 16.6% for the full year. to 51.7 billion and 178.8 billion respectively. Total revenue surpassed pre-pandemic levels for both periods. The improvement in sales was driven by healthy branded SSSG and new store openings. In addition, we benefited from the economy's gradual return to normalcy, including face-to-face classes, increased travel and tourism, and the first normal holiday season in two years. With the rebound of the discretionary formats, their sales contribution increased to 23.5 from 21.6 in 2021. Net sales growth in the fourth quarter and full year 2022 were supported by blended SSSG of 11.8% for both periods. Gross margin improved by 20 bps and 60 bps respectively in the fourth quarter and 2022 due to category mix improvements and economies of scale. Coupled with operating efficiencies, EBIT margins expanded by 30 bps and 90 bps respectively in the fourth quarter in 2022. EBIT came in at 2.8 billion and 8.7 billion respectively, up 23.4% and 43.3%. Net income to parent declined by 27% in the fourth quarter to 1.3 billion due to forex losses and lower tax credit for the quarter. Nonetheless, our full year net income still climbed 26.7% to a record 5.7 billion driven by our strong operating performance. Full year EPS rose at a faster clip at 30.6% to 3.85 pesos per share supported by the ongoing share buyback program. Finally, core earnings, which exclude interest income from bonds, forex, equity, and net earnings of associates and others, came in at 1.6 billion in the fourth quarter, down 4.5% year-on-year. However, full-year core earnings still expanded by 39.1% to 5.3% to 5.3 billion, also a record high. The next speaker will be Stanley Koh. We'll discuss the supermarket segment.

Thank you, Ms. Rosina. The supermarket segment generated net sales of 101 billion for full year 2022. This is 14.1% higher versus 2021. Full year SSSG came in at 7.3% versus negative 8.7% in the same period versus the same period last year. on the back of higher transaction count and a better supply chain situation. Full-year gross profit margin expanded by 20 bps to 21.7% on higher indent and private label penetration, assortment shifts and selling price adjustments. EBITDA rose by 13.9% year-on-year in 2022 to 8.5 billion, driven by healthy top-line growth and GP margin improvements. This translated to a bit the margin of 8.4% for the full year of 2022. Turning you over to Tim for the drugstore segment.