By Arra B. Francia, Senior Reporter
PHILIPPINE Seven Corp. (PSC) looks to open 300 automated teller machine (ATMs) in Metro Manila next year to take advantage of the payment volumes entering its e-commerce platform.
The local licensee of the 7-Eleven convenience stores said it will be pilot testing Seven Bank, Ltd.’s services in the country by 2020. Seven Bank currently operates a network of about 18,000 ATMs across Japan’s 7-Eleven stores through partnerships with different financial institutions.
“Seven Bank is working on putting recycling ATMs in our stores. Recycling ATMs are basically what everybody in Japan uses, it’s both a bill reader and an ATM,” PSC President and Chief Executive Officer Jose Victor P. Paterno said in a media briefing ahead of the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Ortigas Thursday.
Recycling ATMs allow customers to withdraw and deposit cash into the machine. Mr. Paterno noted that the Philippines will be the first country outside Japan that will offer Seven Bank’s services.
“We want to test it first at 300 ATMs and go from there…They (Seven Bank) have to have agreements with different banks, they need system integration which takes even more time,” he explained.
The top executive said they are currently in talks with a number of banks for partnerships with Seven Bank.
Meanwhile, the company said it is on track to have close to 3,000 stores under its portfolio by the end of the year. It currently has about 2,700 stores, which means it will have to open about 300 new outlets in the second half of the year.
PSC earlier said it will spend P3.5 billion in capital expenditures this year to support its store openings for the year. It will also renovate about 100 stores that have been operating for six to seven years.
A portion of the capex will also be spent for new product launches, including the expansion of its fried chicken and brewed coffee offerings.
The company is tracking a high single-digit growth in sales for the year, after posting same store sales growth of 6.8% in the first quarter.
“I think we saw strong acceleration in the second quarter, because there was elections and the Holy Week was in second quarter, last year it was in the first quarter. So there is an acceleration, and for some reason sales are stronger, we’ll see whether inflation will be slower,” Mr. Paterno said.
PSC’s net income attributable to the parent dropped 41% to P112.15 million in the first quarter of 2019, amid an 18% increase in gross revenues to P11.698 billion
Shares in PSC ended flat at P142 each at the stock exchange on Thursday.
