Fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. grew its second quarter profit by 18.1 percent to P1.96 billion, boosted by the strong performance of the Southeast Asia business.

System-wide sales , a measure of all sales to consumers, both from company-owned and franchised stores, went up 14.7 percent to P42.54 billion while consolidated revenues increased 14.9 percent to P32.5 billion.

Southeast Asia business was the main growth driver with system-wide sales surging 42 percent. It was followed by North America which grew 32.5 percent, the Middle East (32 percent), China( 17.2 percent), and the Philippines (12.5 percent).

System wide sales of the foreign business accelerated to 25.6 percent. This growth rate excluded the impact of 2016 divestments and the consolidation of SuperFoods Group, with business mostly in Vietnam starting in May, 2017.

The JFC Group opened 157 stores (Pihlippines 108, foreign 49) in the first half, bringing its global branch network to 3,570.

As of the end of June, the group had 2,701 outlets across the country – Jollibee 1005, Chowking 496, Greenwich 257, Red Ribbon 395, Mang Inasal 470, and Burger King 78. Overseas, it had 869 stores: Yonghe King (China) 307, Hong Zhuang Yuan (China) 44, Dunkin Donuts (China) 17, Jollibee 181 (US 36, Vietnam 90, Brunei 14, Saudi Arabia 11, UAE 8, Qatar 6, Singapore 5, Kuawait 4, Hong Kong 4, Bahrain 1, Canada 1 and Oman 1), Red Ribbon US 33, Chowking 44, Highlands Coffee (202), Pho24 (33), and Hardrock Cafe (8).

Tags: Bahrain, Brunei, Burger King, Canada, China, Chowking, Dunkin’ Donuts, Greenwich, Hardrock Cafe, Highlands Coffee, Hong Kong, Hong Zhuang, Jollibee Foods Corp., Kuawait, Middle East, North America, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Red Ribbon, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Southeast Asia business, Superfoods Group, UAE, Vietnam, Yonghe King