Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc.

Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for joining Robinson City Dells' 3rd quarter 2024 earnings call. I am Gina Dipali, the Company's Investment Relations Officer, and the speakers for this call are the following. Our President and CEO, Ms. Romina Gokomoy-Pellet. Our COO, Sandy Oh. Our CFO, Mylene Kasiban. The Group General Manager of Small Formats for the Food Segment, Ms. Lillian Villasos. The Group General Manager of the Drug Store Segment, Ms. Joan Arceo. The General Manager of the Robinsons Department Store in Dilley, Ms. Lina Guzan. The Group General Manager of EIY and PETS, Mr. Ted Sobono. The group general manager of our appliances segment will be Sanikos. That is the agenda for this afternoon's call. We will provide an overview of our financial performance highlights, and we will also share key updates across the organization. As a reminder to the Q&A section, please use the Q&A function. on your Zoom dashboard to find in your questions. Please limit initially to a maximum of three questions, including follow-ups. You may key back into the Q&A box for additional questions. You may also use the raise hand function if you would like to ask your questions live. With that, I will turn you over to Sandy, our COO.

Good afternoon. Here are the highlights of our results for the third quarter of 1994. Consolidated net sales were higher by 3.1% to 48.7 billion. Blended same-store sales growth of 0.5%. Cross-profit growth by 4% to 11.8 billion. EBIT was slotted at 2.3 billion. Foreign net earnings came in at 1.4 billion. Largely unchanged versus last year. Net income to parents. of 1,028.7% higher versus last year. Meanwhile, here are the highlights for the results for the year-to-date September 24th. Consolidated net sales of 142.4 billion, up by 3% versus last year. Land fixing for sales growth settled at 0.7%. Cross-profit increased by 4.3% to 34.3 billion. EBIT registered at $6.4 billion, higher by 3.7%. Core net earnings grew by 7.6% to $4.1 billion. Net income dependent amounted to $7.8 billion, three times higher. This is largely due to the one-time gain from the VBI Robinson's Bank merger, which was booked in the first quarter. The blackfish trend in blended SSFG were largely due to the discussionary formats, mainly department stores, DIY, and specialty stores, which continued to be affected by sticky inflation and stiff competition. In the third quarter, the discussionary formats were further weighed down by the on-trip of iTunes, which affected food traffic while shipments full opening dates to July this year also had an impact on the top line, especially for department stores. Net sales outperformers in the third quarter and nine months for food and drug stores, as consumers continue to prioritize essential purchases. In addition, these two segments have consistently expanded their footprint, further contributing to their strong performance. Now, on a deeper look at RP&L, gross profit increased by 4% in the third quarter, bringing nine-month tally to 34.3 billion, up 4.3%. Cross-profit growth was driven by changes in merchandise mix and continued vendor support. 3Q EBIT came in at 2.3 billion, with growth of 0.6% affected by higher manpower and rental costs. 9-month EBIT rose by 3.7% to 6.4 billion. Net income to tenant increased by 28.7% to 1 billion in the third quarter. due to lower losses from associates following the reclassification of full-time with our state now down from 20% last year to 90% this year. Year-to-date, the September net income came in at 7.8 billion, three times higher versus last year as we benefited from the substantial gain in the first quarter from the BPI R-Bank merger. For earnings, which excludes the one-time gain from the bank merger, Forex Interest Income From bonds, equity earnings from associates, acquisition, financing, interest expense, dividends related to the BPI shares and others came in at 1.4 billion in the third quarter, largely unchanged versus last year. Year-to-date September coordinate earnings rose 7.6% to 4.1 billion. In terms of segment contributions, the core staple businesses, namely food and drug stores, accounted for 79% of our total sales and 82% of our total EBITDA, respectively, in nine months. Meanwhile, our discretionary formats, namely the department stores, DIY stores, and specialty stores, comprised 21% of total sales and 80% of total EBITDA, respectively. The net sales and EBITDA update down in TQ are similar to the year-to-date September fees. Our store count in the Philippines stood at 2,413 as of September 2024, comprising of 158 free segment stores, 1,101 drug stores, 50 department stores, 225 DIY stores, and 279 specialty stores. We also have 2,163 franchise stores of PGP. For year-to-date September 2014, we opened 20 new stores, mostly under the food and drug store guidance. Here's Liam Jesus for the food segment.

Food segment net sales increased by 4.8% to 29.7 billion in the third quarter, bringing nine-month net sales up by 4.1% to 86.7 billion. Same-store sales growth slightly improved to 1.9% in the third quarter. This brought nine-month same-store sales growth to 1.5%. Gross profit increased by 5.2% in the third quarter and 5.2% in nine months due to higher vendor support and category mix improvements. OPEX rose due to store expansion, digital-related costs, and the conversion of Amazon stores from franchise to direct. Higher OPEX, however, was offset by growth profit growth. As a result, EBITDA rose by 4.2% to 2.6 billion in third quarter and by 3.1% to 7.1 billion in nine months. Good afternoon. Revenues for the drugstore segment increased by 9% to 9.1 billion in third quarter. With year-to-date government sales up by 7.8%, to 26.3 billion. This was driven by same-store sales growth of 3.5% and 3.8% in 3rd quarter and 9 months respectively, and contributions from new stores. Gross profit increased by 9.2% in 3rd quarter and by 8.5% in 9 months, supported by changes in category mix and prior vendor support. The build-up grew by 2.8% to 2.2 billion in 9 months, Lower than top-line growth due to investments for store expansion, new supply chain systems, and opening of two new businesses.