the Outsider - PSE Points to Ponder

  The grocery operator delivered the strongest combination of profitability and balance-sheet strength, while Robinsons Retail grappled with rising costs and Metro Retail staged a recovery from a smaller base. The Philippines’ biggest listed retailers all collected more at the checkout counter in the first half of 2026. The difference was how much they kept. Puregold Price Club Inc. pulled ahead of Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. and Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. by turning faster sales growth into substantially higher profits. The grocery and warehouse-club operator also entered the second half with the strongest balance sheet of the three, giving it room to expand, defend prices and absorb economic shocks without leaning heavily on borrowed money. Robinsons Retail remained a close competitor in sales and produced more gross profit than Puregold. But rising operating costs, higher interest expense and losses outside its core retail operations weighed on earnings. Metro Retail, the...

  The retailer’s sales are still growing, but losses at HD Retail, heavier interest charges and rising operating expenses cloud its departure from the Philippine Stock Exchange. MANILA— Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. is preparing to bid goodbye to the public market with a familiar retail paradox: Its stores are selling more, but an expanding collection of costs and investment losses is making that growth less rewarding. For the six months ended June 30, 2026, the Gokongwei-controlled retailer reported net sales of ₱106.75 billion , up 8.4% from ₱98.48 billion a year earlier. Gross profit rose 8.6% to ₱25.98 billion , helped by a sprawling portfolio that includes supermarkets, drugstores, department stores, hardware outlets, convenience stores and specialty retailers. Yet the gains at the checkout counter didn’t fully reach the bottom line. Operating expenses grew 11.4% to ₱22.62 billion , faster than both sales and gross profit. Meanwhile, RRHI’s share of losses from associates ro...

  Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. is approaching its planned exit from the Philippine Stock Exchange with a message that is both reassuring and complicated: the stores are still growing, but the balance sheet is now doing more of the explaining. The Gokongwei-led retailer posted a strong first quarter operationally, with consolidated net sales rising 10.3% to ₱52.8 billion , supported by 4.1% same-store sales growth , new store contributions and the full-quarter consolidation of Premiumbikes. Core net income rose 6.2% to ₱1.3 billion , suggesting that the underlying retail engine remains healthy even as the company prepares to leave the public market. But the headline profit told a weaker story. Net income attributable to equity holders of the parent fell 35.6% to ₱489 million , dragged down by higher interest expense tied to the DFI share buyback and BPI-related debt, deeper losses from associates, lower dividend income and foreign-exchange losses. That tension — strong stores, wea...