Wilcon Depot profit drops 23.1% to P740M

LISTED home improvement and finishing construction supply retailer Wilcon Depot, Inc. recorded a 23.1% decline in its first quarter net income to P740 million from P962 million last year due to lower net sales.

The company’s first-quarter net sales fell by 2.5% to P8.31 billion from P8.53 billion in 2023 due to weaker sales, attributed to the long Easter holiday season falling in March this year compared to April last year, Wilcon Depot said in a stock exchange disclosure on Monday.

The net sales of the company’s depots reached P7.97 billion, down 4% year-on-year, with same-store sales declining by 7.9%. They accounted for 95.9% of the total net sales during the quarter.

The Do-It-Wilcon (DIW) format stores, comprising 2.8% of total net sales, saw a 37.2% total sales growth to P232 million for the quarter, with same-store sales declining by 10.9%.

“For both formats, Metro Manila stores recorded the highest decline as these stores also registered the highest same store sales growth in the first quarter of 2023,” Wilcon Depot said.

Project sales increased by 108.1% to P105 million, accounting for the remaining 1.3% of total net sales.

“Our earnings for the first quarter may have declined 23% year-on-year, but it’s still higher than any quarter’s earnings prior to 2022,” Wilcon Depot President Lorraine Belo-Cincochan said.

“This quarter’s performance was driven primarily by the considerable year-on-year drop in March sales because of the Easter holidays falling in March this year and exacerbated by the fact that March last year was our highest grossing month. Our April year-on-year sales growth reversed the decline in March and we are hoping that our improving average daily sales will be sustained from here on,” she added.

Wilcon Depot’s gross profit dropped by 1.3% to P3.32 billion. Operating expenses including lease-related interest expense surged by 6.9% to P2.47 billion due to expansion-related expenses such as depreciation and trucking.

In the first quarter, Wilcon Depot opened one depot in Mindanao as well as two DIW format stores, with one in Mindanao and one in Luzon.

“We are still on track to reach our 100-store target by the end of the year,” Ms. Belo-Cincochan said.

“We are looking forward to better results in the future as we work towards improving our performance to reach or even beat our 2022 results,” she added

Wilcon Depot shares climbed by 1.2% or 20 centavos to P16.90 each on Monday. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave