Jollibee allots P5.5-B for 300 new stores MANILA, Philippines - Fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp.

(JFC) is fasttracking its branch expansion this year amid robust consumer spending locally and good market reception abroad. JFC will spend P5.5 billion this year to put up 300 new stores across all its brands here and abroad, its top executive said. We are planning to open about 300 stores. Last year was about 200, JFC chairman and CEO Tony Tan Caktiong said yesterday. The faster pace of expansion will be supported by higher capital spending. Half of the new stores will be put up through franchising. I think last year we spent P4 billion. This year, I think we are targeting P5.5 roughly (in capital expenditures), Tan Caktiong said. The listed fastfood giant ended last year with more than 2,000 stores across all brands in the Philippines. As of end-September, the company was operating 2,040 stores in the Philippines: 765 for Jollibee, 383 for Chowking, 201 for Greenwich, 209 for Red Ribbon, 457 for Mang Inasal and 25 for Burger King. Given higher consumer spending and new stores, the company posted double digit growth in sales and net income for the entire 2012, Tan Caktiong said. We see a good growth this year. Traditionally every elections we do well, Tan Caktiong said, adding that JFC will likely post again a strong double digit growth this year. For its operations abroad, JFC is looking to increase its exposure in China and penetrate Indonesia. We are looking at China. We are looking at expanding there, Tan Caktiong said, adding that around half of the new stores will be set up abroad. Closer to home, JFC wants to set its foot in Indonesia for the first time. We would like to (establish) a Jollibee in Indonesia, Tan Caktiong said. Indonesia, with its 300 million population, is easily thrice the market size of the Philippines, he said. For this country, JFC will introduce more spicy foods to cater to the locals. As of end-September, foreign operations of JFC was composed of 541 branches accounting for around 20 percent of the total business: Yonghe King with 288 stores, Hong Zhuang Yuan with 52 and San Pin Wang with 39, all in China; 27 Jollibee, 32 Red Ribbon, 18 Chowking and three Chow

Fun branches in the US; and 60 Jollibee and 22 Chowking stores in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Tan Caktiong said India and Myanmar is also in JFCs radar but the company does not have enough manpower for the expansion. In the nine months to September last year, the countrys largest food service company, posted P2.47 billion in earnings, up 20.4 percent from the same period in 2011 on the back of improved margins and higher sales in both domestic and foreign businesses. Puregold spends P300 M to beef up portfolio MANILA, Philippines - Grocery chain Puregold Price Club Inc. spent roughly P330 million to beef up its portfolio by acquiring Eunilaine and Grocer E. In a disclosure, Puregold said it bought 290,000 common shares of Company E Corp. representing its total outstanding shares at P1,137.93 per share or a total transaction value of P329.99 million. Company E owned four operating Eunilaine foodmarts and 11 operating Grocer E supermarts. The transaction is envisaged to consolidate smaller supermarket operators, which is feeding the merger and acquisition component of the expansion plans of Puregold, the company said. Puregold said it also wants to capitalize on the growing consumer needs of the community and residential markets. The 15 Eunilaine foodmarts and Grocer E supermarts are located in Metro Manila (seven branches), Rizal province (six stores) and Cavite (two outlets). Puregold said the acquisition will increase its customer base, particularly in the C and D markets in the areas of operation of the Enciso familys Company E. Puregold, which is the closest competitor of grocery giant SM Retail Inc., will convert the Eunilaine and Grocer E branches into Puregold Supermarkets or Extra format. In May, Puregold acquired all 19 branches of Parco Supermarket. The grocery chain allotted P200 million for the refurbishment of the Parco chain. The Lucio Co-led grocery chain ended last year with 156 stores in operations, composed of 131 Puregold Hypermarkets, Supermarkets and Extras; 19 Parco Supermarkets; and six S&R warehouse membership shopping clubs.

As of end-2012, Puregold had 77 stores in Metro Manila, 45 in Southern Luzon, 33 in Northern Luzon and one in the Visayas. This year, Puregold is branching out in Mindanao with the opening of its flagship store in Cagayan de Oro and an S&R Membership Club in Davao as part of plans to hit its 200-outlet target ahead of the 2015 schedule. Phl cited as most romantic destination MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines has been named the Most Romantic Destination by the Shanghai Morning Post based on a consumer survey. The awarding ceremony was held last Jan. 15 at the Shanghai Peninsula Hotel by the Bund. Consul General Charles Jose received the award which was presented by editor-in-chief Liu Sha. Other country-winners include: Australia as The Best Tour Destination for Discovery, Switzerland as The Best Shopping Paradise, Korea as The Best Skiing Destination, and Germany as The Best Destination for Art Appreciation. The Philippines received last Jan. 9 one of the Best Tourist Destination awards given by the Oriental Morning Post during its annual World Travel - Special Trips Awards. More and more Chinese are traveling to the Philippines, especially during this winter season in China and for the upcoming week-long Chinese New Year holiday in Several Philippine carriers have re-launched their air services from China to the Philippines to cater to the growing demand of Chinese travelers for short-haul beach holidays. Meanwhile, finalists of the Miss Czech Republic will arrive on Thursday to hold pre-pageant activities in various tourist destinations. Philippine Ambassador to Czech Republic Evelyn Garcia said travel operators are bringing in the beauty contestants in a bid to promote Philippine tourism. Garcia said ESO, one of the biggest travel operators in Eastern Europe, considers the Philippines as an exotic destination in Asia where European jetsetters could escape from their freezing winters and enjoy the sun, sand and sea. Pia Lee-Brago, Mayen Jaymalin Phl slips in budget transparency survey The countrys budget transparency score slid by seven points last year, indicating that the government provides the public with only tepid information regarding how public officials and agencies are spending taxpayers money

Based on the Open Budget Survey 2012, the country scored 48 or seven points less than its rating in 2010. It trailed Indonesias 54 percent but surged past Thailands 40 percent and Malaysia s (30 percent). The index score is largely based on whether a country makes eight key documents available to the public. These are the pre-budget statement, executives budget proposal, citizens budget, enacted budget, in-year reports, mid-year reviews, year-end reports, and audit reports. The survey is a comprehensive evaluation of budget transparency in 100 countries that was conducted by the Washington-based International Budget Partnership (IBP), in coordination with some independent media and research agencies. It is conducted every two years. The drop was attributed to the countrys late publication of the Organizational Performance Indicator Framework (OPIF) 2012 Book of Outputs as well the reduction in the quality of information provided in the year-end report. The Department of Budget and Management noted that while the Philippines was still categorized as a country which provides little budget information to the public, it has stayed within the top 50 percent of the world in the OBI, the DBM said. The DBM explained that the delay in publishing the OPIF was due to a policy decision to review all outcomes, major final outputs and performance indicator to make sure that these are aligned with the governments development priorities. The Philippines was rated as having a moderate level of public participation in the budget process or among the top 17 in the world. While it respects the methodology that IBP developed for the OBI, the DBM pointed out that the standards for budget transparency are rather limited in scope, rating only the availability of budget information through eight prescribed budget documents. The OBI does not recognize several other high-impact developments in the Philippines, such as the new tradition of early submission and enactment of the Budget, which has done away with the questionable practice of budget reenactment; the disaggregation of abuse-prone lump-sum fund items in the Budget; measures to prevent the diversion of funds for personnel services to other, often anomalous uses; and the requirement for all departments and agencies to post their respective budgets online; among many other unprecedented reforms, the DBM said. DBM Secretary Florencio Abad pointed out that the official website of agency now provides extensive and updated information on how public funds are being spent and managed, from updates on budget releases and obligations made to the status of Priority Development

Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations to legislators, all the way to budget circulars and other official issuances. Abad said the agency also launched the Budget ng Bayan website), an interactive online portal that offers comprehensive, downloadable information on the National Budget including those for the current and previous fiscal yearas well as a Citizens Portal for deeper and more meaningful public engagement. We in the DBM under the Aquino Administration are committed to push for greater budget transparency and participation in the Philippines, and will continue to work towards better openness and public engagement in fund expenditure management, Abad said. In order to improve budget transparency, the Philippines, IBP said, should publish a pre-budget statement a mid-year review, year-end report and a Citizens budget. The Philippines was also asked to increase the comprehensiveness of the Executive budget proposal and audit reports. With Janvic Mateo PNB-Allied Bank merger moves closer to completion MANILA, Philippines - The merger between Philippine National Bank (PNB) and Allied Banking Corp. is expected to be completed next month, a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) said. PNB informed the PSE that it had already secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission, paving the way for the merger to be finally consummated. We now have all the necessary regulatory approvals to implement the legal merger by February 2013, PNB corporate secretary Doris Te said. Te also informed the PSE that they had received the go-signal from Financial Services Authority (FSA) of the United Kingdom on the change in control of Allied Bank Philippines Plc and PNB (Europe) Plc. The PNB official likewise said the SEC has approved the corresponding amendment to PNBs articles of incorporation reclassifying its preferred shares into common shares. The SEC also approved the increase in the number of PNB directors to 15 from the present 11. But with the merger pushing through, it was not immediately known if PNBs next move would be to pursue further talks on the proposed merger with the Ayala-controlled Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI).

Earlier, PNB insiders said talks with BPI would likely stretch as it would be the banks priority to merge with Allied Bank, both owned by tycoon Lucio Tan. If ever, it would take time before the BPI-PNB-Allied merger could be consummated. Provided, the Ayalas and Tans agreed to enter into a merger talk, there would be due diligence and I doubt if they could finish it in one quarter. This is a long process, sources said. BPI president Aurelio Montinola III earlier hinted that if the merger pushes through, they would be preparing for a global package as he admitted there are advantages for banks to go bigger these days. Meralco fine-tunes prepaid power scheme MANILA, Philippines - Manila Electric Co., the countrys biggest power distribution firm, is now fine-tuning the details of its prepaid retail electricity scheme for the expected commercial pilot testing by the middle of the year, a ranking official said. Were giving it until mid-year because we want to make sure that we are running well, Alfredo S. Panlilio, Meralcos senior vice president and head of customer retail services, told reporters yesterday on the sidelines of the International Research Exchange Asia Meeting 2013 jointly organized by IERE and Meralco. Meralco hopes to cover around 100 to 200 households for the technical pilot testing at the larger-scale commercial pilot testing with around 2,000 households. Households availing of the program can go to Meralco business centers to reload but eventually, Meralco would allow reloading in Bayad Centers and Smart centers nationwide. Its still being tested now. Its in the works already, Panlilio said. For all the systems and everything, the budget is around $7 million. This includes the prepaid system and the analytic system integration, he said. Panlilio said the pilot activities are meant to determine the viability of the planned prepaid platforms, the prepaid meters and the possible troubleshooting mechanisms. Meralco decided to provide prepaid retail electricity to its consumers to allow them to budget their electricity consumption as well as expenses. It would also enable them to monitor their electricity consumption as it happens. The prepaid meter systems can tell consumers if their prepaid load is still enough for a given period and thus warn them if they need to reload to avoid disconnection.

Globe unit pitches mobile advertising to companies MANILA, Philippines - Mobile content provider Entertainment Gateway Group (EGG), a whollyowned subsidiary of Ayala-controlled Globe Telecom Inc., is urging multinational companies and conglomerates to take advantage of mobile advertising that has a 95 percent market reach. EGG head of mobile advertising sales Kathy Alejar said mobile advertising is the way to go particularly for businesses that focus on increasing their share in their industrys target market pie. For these businesses, competition is ever cut-throat. Their marketing blueprint must not only be carefully planned; it must be backed by measurable results that will clearly guide them in navigating their game plan and aiding informed cost management that delivers profit, which is the bottomline goal, she stressed. She said companies whose goal is to be the top-of-mind brand in their target markets consciousness could not afford to miss out in the fast-developing marketing platform dubbed as mobile advertising with practically every Filipino owning a cell phone or a tablet. Data showed that there are now 90 million mobile phone subscribers in the Philippines with 20 percent or about 19 million browsing the internet via their smartphones. As a subsidiary of Globe, EGG has a ready and handy base of over 30 million subscribers. She added that mobile advertising offers endless possibilities as it could be used to mobilize various business functions such as recruitment, purchase, promotion, engagement and content delivery. It also evens the playing field for all types and sizes of businesses because it is flexible, cost-efficient and market-targeted that garners it a proven response rate far higher than industry rate. Alejar pointed out that the companys portfolio of mobile advertising products and services could help businesses leverage on the rapid growth of mobile Internet access and the sweeping success of mobile advertising reach. She added that businesses should take advantage of cutting-edge mobile advertising platforms, bringing about a fundamental change in the way they strategize their marketing operations and run their business in general. More importantly, mobile advertising maximizes their marketing communication budget and promotion investment, she noted. Studies showed that mobile advertising that has 95 percent target market reach compared to only 66 percent of tri-media has a far bigger average response rate.

For one, text-based ads have five percent response rate while rich media display ads garner an eight percent response rate. Alejar said millions of people have come to rely on their mobile phones and devices for quick access to a variety of information such as news, data and real-time updates with the increasing ownership rate of smartphones and feature phones as well as the rapid acceleration of internet usage and speed of access both in paid and free public hotspots.