Listed food service giant Jollibee Foods Corp. said Wednesday it would allot P340 million for the construction of a food processing plant in China.
Jollibee told the Philippine Stock Exchange it signed an agreement with Hua Xia Harvest Holdings Pte., a Singaporean company, to undertake food-manufacturing operations supplying products of the Jollibee Group's popular brands.
The factory will be constructed in a four-hectare property in Anhui China’s Shucheng County, initially supplying products of Yonghe King.
Jollibee has two restaurant brands in China — Yonghe King and Hong Zhuang Yuan.
The regulatory filing also showed that Jollibee would own 55 percent of San Pin Wang, a restaurant chain with 34 stores in Nanning, Guangxi Province in South China starting next year.
The fastfood giant currently depends on third party suppliers for its product supply in China, the disclosure read.
Tony Tan Caktiong, chairman and CEO of Jollibee, earlier said the company plans to invest P600 million to put up 60 new stores in China this year.
Jollibee reported its net income went up by 23 percent to P691 million on higher sales and strong profit margin in the first quarter.
Systemwide sales, a measure of all sales to consumers from company-owned and franchised stores, grew by 8.4 percent to P16.3 billion. Sales in the Philippines increased by 7.7 percent while sales overseas improved by 12.4 percent.
Jollibee operates the largest fast food network in the Philippines with 1,569 stores as of March 2010. Its popular local brands are Jollibee, Chowking, Delifrance, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, and Manong Pepe. —JE/VS,
