Jollibee Foods Corporation, the country’s top food service company, is hopeful it will become the biggest restaurant operator in Asia as early as next year.

According to Jollibee chief finance officer Ysmael Baysa, Jollibee is very likely to surpass Japanese food service firm Yoshinoya which currently has annual sales amounting to $2.5 billion.

“On the average we are growing at 12 to 13 percent a year, so it will be easy for us. But we are keeping our fingers crossed,” said Baysa adding that Jollibee is now averaging $2 billion in sales every year from its network of stores in the Philippines and overseas.

Jollibee reported a 26.7 percent hike in attributable net income to P3.12 billion for the first nine months of 2013 from P2.47 billion in the same period last year.

The firm said systemwide sales grew 12.4 percent during the period to P75.22 billion ($1.73 billion) from P66.92 billion in January to September 2012. Systemwide sales measures revenues from both company-owned and franchised stores.

For the third quarter of the year, the firm said system wide sales rose 13 percent to P25.32 billion from P22.42 billion as sales in the Philippines rose by 10.5 percent while total sales of foreign businesses grew by 22.1 percent.

For its foreign businesses, China grew by 21.9 percent, the United States by 15.7 percent and Southeast Asia and the Middle East by 34.7 percent.

Worldwide same store sales growth for the third quarter was about 8.5 percent, sustaining the healthy growth rate of previous quarters. Net income margin improved slightly from 5.1 percent in the third quarter last year to 5.3 percent in the same period of 2013.

Jollibee said the group opened 137 stores in the first nine months of the year. In the Philippines, it opened 21 Jollibee outlets, 10 Chowking, 2 Greenwich, 45 Red Ribbon, 13 Mang Inasal, and 2 Burger King.

In China, it opened 24 Yonghe King and 7 San Pin Wang; in the US is opened 4 Jollibee and one Chowking; and 8 stores in other parts of the world.

Source Yahoo News