Fruitas Holdings Inc., the listed food and beverage kiosk chain, returned to profitability in the second quarter as revenue grew along with the increase in the number of its community stores.
Fruitas president and CEO Lester Yu said the company continues to ‘quarantineproof’ its business.
“Our community stores remained resilient and have been instrumental in our push to generate more demand for our products online. Our wider network now allows easier
access to and faster delivery of Fruitas products. It also makes us an attractive partner for other companies which want to target the same consumer base,” he said.
Second quarter net income reached P7 million, a reversal of the P27 million net loss a year ago and the P16 million net loss in the first quarter of the year.
Revenue further increased to P263 million in the second quarter from P261 million in the first quarter as sales contribution from community stores reached 15 percent during the period in line with continued network expansion.
For the first half of 2021, the company’s net loss narrowed to P9 million from P12 million a year ago. Revenue reached P524 million, 13 percent higher than the P462 million generated in the first half of 2020 but still 44 percent lower than the P941 million recorded in the first half of 2019.
As of end-June, Fruitas has a network of 67 community stores, which has grown to 80 as of August 15, 2021.
This includes franchised Balai Pandesal stores, which came with the acquisition in June 2021 and new Balai Pandesal stores which were subsequently opened.
Despite the significant drop in total revenue versus pre-pandemic levels of 2019, Fruitas’ average daily sales per store has already recovered to about 70 percent of pre-pandemic level.