Strong Philippine, China sales power fastfood chain's 2010 growth

Fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. has its net profit last year grow by 16 percent thanks to robust sales and massive expansion in the Philippines and China.
Company executives reported Monday the Manila-based company raked in 3.09 billion pesos (71.3 million U.S. dollars) in 2010. Full-year revenues jumped by 11.2 percent to 53.35 billion pesos ( 1.23 billion U.S. dollars) while system-wide retail sales rose 10. 2 percent to 70.25 billion pesos (1.62 billion U.S. dollars).
"We look forward to continued robust sales and profit growth in the Philippines and abroad in the years ahead,"Jollibee Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tony Tan Caktiong said in a statement.
He added that that the company's stores in China, the U.S. the Middle East and Vietnam will continue to boost company profits in the succeeding years.
"Practically all our brands in all countries where we operate achieved growth in the fourth quarter of 2010 versus the same period in 2009 led by our businesses Yonghe King and Hong Zhuang Yuan in China of 30 percent (growth) and Jollibee International of 25 percent (growth)," Tan Caktiong said.
He added that the company's acquisition of fast-growing grilled chicken restaurant chain Mang Inasal late last year contributed 5 percentage points to world-wide sales growth.
Jollibee's global network ended 2010 with 2,316 stores, up by 23 percent from a year ago, due primarily to the acquisition of Mang Inasal.
As of end-December, Jollibee had 1,921 stores in the Philippines. It also had 395 stores overseas, 200 of them in China. The rest were located in the U.S., Vietnam, United Arab Emirates and Brunei.