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PVL starts preparing for first pro season

THE now-professional Premier Volleyball League (PVL) is currently working on the form its coming season will be having, taking into consideration what it has at its disposal and the prevailing conditions in the country.

Speaking at the online Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday, PVL President Ricky Palou shared that their group has gotten the ball rolling in terms of preparation for the league’s first season as a professional association, targeted to begin with the Open Conference on May 8.

The league will showcase a shored-up roster of 12 competing teams, namely, BaliPure Purest Water Defenders, Banko Perlas Spikers, Chery Tiggo Crossover, Choco Mucho Flying Titans, Cignal HD Spikers, Creamline Cool Smashers, F2 Logistics Cargo Movers, Petro Gazz Angels, Philippine Army Lady Troopers, PLDT Home Fibr Hitters, Sta. Lucia Lady Realtors, and UAC Power Hitters.

The Open Conference will be held in a “bubble” setting at the INSPIRE Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna, where all the participants are expected to be holed up for the duration of the tournament.

Mr. Palou said teams will be allowed 20 personnel each, including the players and coaches.

One of the key matters the PVL is currently discussing is the schedule of the games, made trickier since it involves a bigger number of teams.

“We are in the process of preparing the schedule. We’re looking at several possible setups. One is having a single round-robin and another is we’re looking at the possibility of dividing the teams into two brackets. If we go single round, it will take two months to finish and keeping everybody in the bubble presents challenges. We hope to finalize things this week,” said Mr. Palou.

The PVL official went on to say that they will try to squeeze in as many games as possible every week and have discussed the matter with their new television partners Cignal and TV5 as far as coverage is concerned.

The league is also actively communicating with the management of INSPIRE, Mr. Palou said, to ensure that everything will be up and running come tournament proper.

“We are working with the management of INSPIRE and they have assured us that they can accommodate all the teams. We are expecting that all in all, including league and game officials, between 310 to 325 people will enter the bubble,” he said.

While not giving any definite figures, Mr. Palou shared that they will spend a “substantial” amount to stage their bubble tournament.

Ten million pesos are expected to be used for the medical team and needed swab testing, while P5 million is earmarked for tournament operations like salaries of referees and table officials.

Still being awaited are the figures from INSPIRE as the bubble host.

Mr. Palou said that given how fluid the situation is with the pandemic, they are constantly in communication with all stakeholders, putting a lot of emphasis on health and safety just as he said that they are going to make the necessary adjustments as needed. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

MPL Philippines Season 7 to fire off on March 19

A NEW season of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League – Philippines is to fire off on Friday, March 19, with organizers bracing for another exciting esports action.

Now on its seventh season, MPL Philippines gathers anew the top teams and players in the country of the popular mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game to battle for supremacy.

In the about-to-start season, group stage competitors will be composed of 10 teams — eight seeded teams from the previous season and two main qualifier winners.

Said teams are divided into two groups of five teams each. They will compete in a round-robin format, with each game win helping them earn points to qualify for the playoffs.

In Group A are defending champion Bren Esports, Aura PH, Onic PH, Cignal Ultra, and Work Auster Force. Group B, meanwhile, is composed of Omega Esports, Execration, Blacklist International, Nexplay Solid, and Laus Auto Group Playbook Esports.

Opening the first week of MPL PH Season 7 is a clash between Omega Esports and team Execration, which is a rematch of their Season 6 playoff semifinal match.

Omega Esports defeated Execration, 3-1, in their best-of-5 series, something the latter hopes to redeem itself from at the onset of the new season.

The game is set at 4 p.m. on Friday.

Defending champion Bren Esports opens its season on Day Two against Onic PH.

Bren Esports had the number of Onic PH last season, taking all the matches they played, including sweeping their semifinal joust, 3-0.

The team then plays Nexplay Solid the following day.

Adding a new dimension to the latest season of the league is its partnership with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines, which has an end view of raising awareness on wildlife conservation through MPL PH’s advocacy-driven tournaments.

Through the partnership, the league also hopes to show that online games are not only for entertainment, but gamers can also be “global agents of change.”

Fans are also set to be engaged with the return of the Mythical raffle this season. Through it, fans are afforded the chance not only to show support for their favorite team but also to win exciting prizes. Entry to the Mythical Raffle will be available each game week, from group stage to playoffs for a total of 10 weeks.

MPL PH Season 7 action can be seen through the following links: Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Official Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/MobileLegendsOnlinePH), Mobile Legends Esports Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MLESPORTS), Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) Philippines Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/mplph.official), Mobile Legends: Bang Bang YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqmld-BIYME2i_ooRTo1EOg), MLBB eSports (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMncR-XXNXhMyJELEgCrHlg), and Official MPL-PH Website (https://ph-mpl.com/). — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Davao Occidental advances to MPBL national finals by default

THE Davao Occidental-Cocolife Tigers advanced to the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) Lakan Season National Finals by default on Tuesday after their opponents were rendered a no-go over health and safety protocols.

In an announcement, the MPBL said the Basilan-Jumbo Plastic Steel squad lost the opportunity to play in their South Division finals rubber match with Davao Occidental following the positive coronavirus test of some of their members in their re-swab on Monday.

Defeat by default was the decision set by the league in the event of another positive result for Basilan whose win-or-go home Game Three match with the Tigers was postponed last week, with some of its members testing positive upon their arrival in the MPBL “bubble” in Subic, Zambales, and requiring quarantine.

The league put the down the tough decision so as to stay on track of its two-week bubble calendar.

Davao Occidental will face the San Juan Go for Gold Knights in the best-of-five national finals beginning on Wednesday, March 17.

In the national finals, games will be played almost every day until the series ends, with just a one-day break after Game Two. — MASM

Suns take down Grizzlies, 122-99

DEVIN Booker recorded 27 points and five assists to help the Phoenix Suns roll to a 122-99 victory over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.

Chris Paul scored 18 points on nine-of-11 shooting and added seven assists and four steals as the Suns won for the 18th time in the past 22 games.

Deandre Ayton registered 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots for Phoenix. Jae Crowder tallied 14 points and Cameron Payne had 13.

Jonas Valančiūnas had 24 points and 17 rebounds for his 24th double-double of the season for the Grizzlies, who have lost three straight games and four of their past five. Valančiūnas made 11 of 14 field-goal attempts, and eight of his boards were on the offensive end.

Ja Morant and Grayson Allen scored 15 points apiece and Dillon Brooks had 13 for Memphis, which shot 43.7% from the field and five of 23 from 3-point range.

Phoenix shot 56.6% from the field and was 12 of 30 from behind the arc while rebounding from Saturday’s 122-111 setback against the Indiana Pacers. — Reuters

Messi double leads Barça to within four points of La Liga summit

BARCELONA — Lionel Messi celebrated his record-equalling 767th appearance for Barcelona by scoring two goals in a 4-1 La Liga victory over Huesca which helped the Catalans to move within four points of the top of the table on Monday.

Spectacular first-half strikes by Messi and Antoine Griezmann from long-range appeared to have put Barça in the driving seat with the visitors rarely threatening.

However, Barça keeper Marc-André ter Stegen was adjudged to have felled Rafa Mir on the stroke of halftime as the forward attacked a cross. He picked himself up to net the penalty and halve the deficit against the run of play.

A first goal for the club by defender Oscar Mingueza restored Barça’s two-goal cushion eight minutes after the restart as he nodded in a Messi corner.

Mir then missed a golden chance to pull one back when he contrived to head over from close range moments later, and was made to pay as Messi rounded off the win in the final minute of normal time with a deflected effort.

“I’ve always said there’s all to play for in the league title race,” Barça coach Ronaldo Koeman said.

“We’ve bounced back well after dropping points early on in the season. The side are looking good and we are confident we can fight for the trophy.

“It’s a great result to build on. We were good in the first-half and we kept our intensity up in the second, too.

“We can’t afford to drop any more points because we’ve already dropped quite a lot.”

The victory lifted Barça to 59 points in second place, four behind table-toppers Atletico Madrid.

Huesca, meanwhile, remain bottom of the table on 20 points, four from safety.

Messi equalled Xavi Hernandez’s all-time appearance record for Barcelona. — Reuters

Clippers Hyde side

When the Clippers saw fit to restart in the offseason, the mandate was clear. They had just experienced failure in the bubble, and of the type that served to further fuel their disappointment. They were supposed to be primed for greatness, with the arrival of All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George installing them as favorites to bring home the hardware. Instead, they collapsed in the worst possible way. They didn’t just give up a three-one lead in the Western Conference semifinals; they did so after holding double-digit leads in each of the potential series clinchers against the Nuggets.

The collapse, and the wave of bitterness it engendered, led to a changing of the guard. Out was erstwhile head coach Doc Rivers and in came erstwhile assistant Ty Lue, and the move bore optimism that the Clippers’ 2020-21 campaign would feature a string of successes ultimately netting them the Larry O’Brien Trophy. The seemingly defining moment spurred the Clippers to hit the ground running. Among their early strides included emphatic victories over the Lakers, Nuggets, Mavericks, Blazers, and Heat, earning for them a robust 13-4 slate early on. They were crowding the top of the highly competitive West, poised to generate continuing momentum.

Now, halfway through the season, that optimism still burns, but not as brightly. In fact, it’s flickering under the strain of play so disjointed that even Leonard, not normally predisposed to airing dirty linen in public, saw fit to grouse about the situation. “It’s very concerning,” he told scribes in the aftermath of a blowout loss to the supposedly overmatched Pelicans, their seventh setback in the last 11 outings. “It’s all about consistency, from teams to players to coaches. That’s what makes a team great, players great, coaches great. A consistency of being, wanting to win, and doing pretty much the same habits of winning.”

Leonard’s right. The Clippers appeared to have the consistency he spoke of at the outset. And then they wavered. Over the last month, in particular, they’ve managed to turn a 21-8 record into a 25-15 mirage. They’re still fourth in the conference, still in possession of a healthy — on paper, at least — plus-5.4 point differential, and still deemed legitimate contenders. The flipside, of course, is that they were likewise in the same position prior to their monumental collapse in the 2020 Playoffs. Which is what the offseason shake-up should have fixed, and which, as things stand, haven’t been addressed to the satisfaction of all concerned.

Lue knows the score. He understands the pressure the Clippers are in given their talent level, all the man-hours lost due to various issues notwithstanding. “We have shown what we can do, and we can play at a high level, but we have to do it every single night. We can’t keep talking about it,” he argued. The question, though, is when. And, considering how much they need to, in Leonard’s words, develop “a consistency of being, wanting to win, and doing pretty much the same habits of winning,” the resolve has to come sooner rather than later. Else, they’ll once again get to prove that their Hyde side is a hurdle they simply cannot overcome.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

Volkswagen takes aim at Tesla with own European gigafactories

FRANKFURT – Volkswagen plans to build half a dozen battery cell plants in Europe and expand infrastructure for charging electric vehicles globally, accelerating efforts to overtake Tesla and speed up mass adoption of battery-powered cars.

The world’s No. 2 carmaker, which is in the midst of a major shift towards battery-powered cars, said on Monday it wants to have six battery cell factories operating in Europe by 2030, which it will build alone or with partners.

“Our transformation will be fast, it will be unprecedented,” Chief Executive Herbert Diess told Volkswagen’s Power Day, which also featured the CEOs of BP, Enel and Iberdrola in an effort to match some of the buzz of Tesla’s Battery Day last September.

“E-mobility has become core business for us,” he added.

Volkswagen, whose shares rose as much as 3.8%, did not specifically say how much the plan will cost. It said in December that it planned to spend 35 billion euros ($41.7 billion) on e-mobility as a whole by 2025.

The group had been a laggard on electrification until it admitted in 2015 to cheating on U.S. diesel emissions tests and had to deal with new Chinese quotas for electric vehicles. It now has one of the most ambitious programmes in the industry.

Volkswagen said the European factories will have a joint production capacity of up to 240 gigawatt hours (GWh) a year, adding the first 40 GWh would come from Sweden’s Northvolt, with production starting in 2023.

As part of the deal, Volkswagen will raise its 20% stake in Northvolt and also take over the Swedish firm’s stake in a planned battery cell venture in the German city of Salzgitter, which will form the second factory from 2025.

This will be followed by a factory in Spain, France or Portugal in 2026 and a site in Poland, Slovakia or the Czech Republic by 2027. Two more plants will be set up by 2030.

While the first two factories are already reflected in Volkswagen’s financial planning, the group is currently in “deep discussions” about how the subsequent plants fitted with financial targets, board member Thomas Schmall said.

 

CHARGED UP

Volkswagen is also working on a major expansion of charging infrastructure, a lack of which is still seen as a big barrier to the mass adoption of battery-powered cars.

Via existing efforts and partnerships with oil major BP as well as top European utilities Enel and Iberdrola, Volkswagen aims to operate about 18,000 public fast-charging points in Europe by 2025.

This represents a five-fold expansion of the existing fast-charging network, Volkswagen said, adding it would invest 400 million euros in the initiative.

In North America, Volkswagen targets 3,500 fast-charging points by the end of 2021 via its Electrify America unit, while in China, the world’s largest car market, the group aims for 17,000 by 2025.

In China, where Volkswagen last year acquired 26.5% of battery maker Guoxuan High-tech Co Ltd, the carmaker now aims to sell more than 2 million electric vehicles a year by the end of the decade.

Shifting to design, Volkswagen unveiled plans to have a new unified prismatic battery cell from 2023, which will support cost cuts generated by the higher level of in-house cell production and could impact its current suppliers.

South Korean battery makers’ shares, including in LG Chem , whose unit LG Energy Solution makes batteries for Volkswagen, and SK Innovation, fell as much as 5.8% and 5.3% respectively on Tuesday after the news.

Electric vehicle makers, including Tesla, are using cylindrical battery cells, which resemble flashlight batteries and are relatively inexpensive and easy to manufacture.

Prismatic cells, which resemble a thin hardcover book, are housed in a rectangular metal case and are more expensive. Pouch cells, another alternative, are thinner and lighter, and resemble a flexible metal mailing envelope.

“On average, we will drive down the cost of battery systems to significantly below 100 euros ($119) per kilowatt hour,” Schmall said. “This will finally make e-mobility affordable and the dominant drive technology.”

The cost of battery cells used for electric vehicles has fallen to an average of $110 per kilowatt hour, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence said in December. – Reuters

Access gives back in time of the pandemic, making its courses accessible to legal practitioners

Making quality education for lawyers more accessible in this pandemic, ACCESS MCLE– the pioneering and premier online MCLE provider – rolls out its new packages, offering its Full Compliance Bundle (36 credit units) for just P16,000 (from the original P24,300 package) and the 24-unit bundle for 2020 oath takers at P11,000.

“The pandemic has been hard on everybody; businesses and schools have badly suffered. We, at ACCESS MCLE, believe that we have the duty to provide quality MCLE courses and make them accessible for all, especially to those who want to complete the 7th compliance during the prolonged lockdowns. We understand that times are not ideal and every centavo counts, so we are gifting our enrollees with more affordable, accessible, world-class MCLE online and on-demand,” says Atty. Peaches Martinez-Aranas, the founder of ACCESS and the person behind the groundbreaking MCLE online program.

Regarded as the new “Netflix for lawyers,” ACCESS MCLE is the FIRST online MCLE provider in the country, accredited by the Supreme Court of the Philippines through the MCLE Office. Since 2017, ACCESS MCLE has been elevating mandatory continuing legal education (MCLE) through innovation such as the country’s first-ever digital learning platform for lawyers.

ACCESS MCLE online courses – 24 of which are already available on site – are groundbreaking as they cover diverse topics, from the “Corporations Vested with Public Interest under the Revised Corporation Code” to “The Fundamentals of the Data Privacy Act,” the “Defending Philippine Sovereign Rights in the West Philippine Sea,” and more! In February and March 2021, 14 new courses will be rolled out, including Justice Magdangal De Leon’s “Dynamic Oral Advocacy,” Atty. Leah Jose-Sebastian’s “The Legal Ethics of Legal Risk Management for the New Normal,” and Justice Catherine T. Manahan’s “Tax Mediation at the Court of Tax Appeals.”

The result of meticulous production, each course was designed to educate with exciting, fully-interactive features such as follow-along transcribed lecture guides, interactive games and quizzes, and virtual proctor.

Moreover, each course is headlined by some of the country’s most prominent legal luminaries, including Retired Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Associate Justice Catherine Manahan of the Court of Tax Appeals, retired Associate Justice Magdangal De Leon of the Court of Appeals, Deputy Commissioner for National Privacy Commission Atty. Leandro Angelo Aguirre, Chief of the Legal Division of the Bureau of Immigration Atty. Arvin Cesar Santos, and former SEC Chairwoman Atty. Teresita Herbosa, among others.

“What we offer is premium MCLE that is online and on-demand,” says Atty. Martinez-Aranas. “Through this e-learning platform, we have made it easier for lawyers to comply with their MCLE requirements– allowing them to learn anytime, anywhere. Even lawyers from outside Metro Manila or abroad can learn from the country’s best without needing to get on a plane. They can simply watch on their laptops, tablets or mobile phones, in the comfort of their own homes and offices.”

Beyond compliance, ACCESS MCLE believes in real and engaged learning. “We believe that Philippine lawyers deserve online education that is global in content, design, and delivery. We develop courses that are not only relevant and current but are designed for easy retention. What we offer is true value,” Atty. Martinez-Aranas ends.

Want to know what sets ACCESS MCLE courses apart? Watch one of its courses for FREE and get your FREE credit now! Register at www.accessonline.ph #ACCESSMCLE #MCLEOnline #netflixforlawyers #designedtoeducate

 

 

SM Foundation, Alagang Kapatid Foundation partner in spreading social good

Through its sustained collaboration with Uniqlo Philippines, SM Foundation (SMFI) recently turned over 2,000 Uniqlo AIRISM masks to Alagang Kapatid Foundation. The said masks will be distributed to families in grassroots communities and to COVID-19 frontliners.

Hong Kong’s tough COVID-19 rules see babies isolated, families cramped in tiny spaces

HONG KONG – Families in Asia’s financial hub of Hong Kong are suffering isolation and trauma after strict coronavirus rules have led to babies being separated from parents and those with newborns herded into tiny quarantine quarters for up to 14 days.

Hong Kong authorities have ordered that anyone testing positive for the virus must go to hospital, including babies, while all their close contacts, even those who test negative, are sent to makeshift quarantine camps.

“It’s crazy,” said one mother, who said she had to abruptly stop breastfeeding following separation from her seven-month-old son last week after she was diagnosed with COVID-19.

“I got fever last night because I have gone from breastfeeding to 100% pumping,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified.

“So instead of dealing with COVID, I’m dealing with blocked sore breasts.”

The separation of families over the virus is not common in other developed cities, say legal experts.

Hong Kong’s government told Reuters late on Monday that for COVID-19 cases involving children, the public hospital will, “under special circumstances, decide whether or not their parents can stay with the children in hospital”.

Family members living with the case will be treated as close contacts and admitted to a quarantine centre. Subject to case-by-case asssesment, caretakers might be arranged by the family to accompany those with special needs, such as infants, it said.

Shahana Hoque-Ali, a scientist who moderates the Hong Kong Quarantine support group on Facebook, said it had assisted in more than 100 cases of children who had faced separation from their parents over the past year, with dozens in the past week.

A separate city-wide petition circulating online on Monday asked the government to allow young children the option of home quarantine. Around 4,700 of a targeted 5,000 residents signed up in a few hours according to the website.

Many expatriate families with young children were among the hundreds of residents sent to quarantine last week after an outbreak at a popular upmarket gym in Hong Kong’s Sai Ying Pun district.

That case has ensnared bankers, lawyers and the city’s international school network, with some teachers and students infected.

Separately, a group of eight babies and parents who attended a playgroup last week were sent to quarantine after one parent was confirmed positive because of the gym outbreak.

The rest of the group tested negative but they were still required to quarantine.

“I am really worried, it’s such a small space. Three of us in this room for 10 days won’t work,” said Nicholas Worley, whose wife Kylie and 15-month-old son, Hunter, attended the playgroup.

The quarantine rooms in Penny’s Bay that accommodate Worley and many others are 18 sq. m. (194 sq. ft) in size and lack refrigerators, cooking facilities or baby amenities.

While staff there did their best to assist, the facility is not designed for families, the residents said.

Worley, who heads consultancy Bain’s public relations in Asia, said hazards in the room, such as sharp nails and edges, fuelled additional concern over his son’s safety.

The trauma and psychological impact on families is intense, said a 40-year-old man in quarantine with his two young children.

“It’s an absolute nightmare, it is just such a mess,” said the man, who sought anonymity.

On Sunday a class of 35 nine-year-olds from the city’s Harbour School were told they needed to enter quarantine, its managing director, Dan Blurton, told Reuters.

“Parents and the school have strongly requested for alternative arrangements that are more humane, with regards to the treatment of young children,” he added.

Legal experts said there were no set guidelines regarding family separations, with each case being handled individually.

Hong Kong barrister Kirsteen Lau said that legally health officers had wide discretion to grant or deny permission for a child or parent to enter a place of isolation.

However, this meant that regulations “give very little guidance as to what circumstances would allow a parent and child to stay together,” she added. – Reuters

Japan calls for caution as daytime karaoke sessions spread coronavirus

TOKYO – A rash of Japanese coronavirus clusters linked to daytime karaoke sessions by the elderly, including several linked to 93 cases in one prefecture, prompted a stern warning on Tuesday and calls for caution from authorities.

The recent clusters, which are spread across the country, come as the Tokyo metropolitan area is nearing the planned end of a state of emergency aimed at curbing the latest wave of coronavirus cases. The Olympics are set to begin in Tokyo in just over four months.

At least 215 people have recently tested positive in cases linked to daytime karaoke sessions, a pursuit especially popular with the retired and elderly, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Tuesday.

Ninety-three were in Saga prefecture in southwestern Japan, with ages ranging from the 50s to the 80s, but clusters were also found in Saitama and Chiba prefectures, still under a state of emergency set to end on March 21.

Many of Japan’s karaoke establishments feature small rooms lined with sofas in which groups can sing, eat and talk in privacy for hours.

“We realize that under normal circumstances, karaoke is almost a salon for older people to talk and enjoy themselves, but in the current situation of absolutely trying to prevent infection, these (venues) are rather confined,” Nishimura said.

“In my election district there are many places like this – narrow rooms where people are packed in and singing. They have to take thorough steps including putting up acrylic panels, good ventilation and disinfecting the microphones.”

He also called on those in areas still under the state of emergency to refrain from unnecessary trips out of their homes.

Roughly 448,400 people have tested positive in Japan and about 9,000 have died since the pandemic began. – Reuters

Fast food giant Jollibee targets foreign expansion after COVID

Jollibee Foods Corp., the largest Philippine restaurant operator, is looking toward foreign expansion and “opportunities” created by COVID-19 as it rebounds after historic losses induced by the pandemic.

After a restructure amid last year’s setback, Jollibee CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong plans to open 450 restaurants around the world this year while looking for acquisitions that could be funded with the company’s 57.5 billion pesos ($1.2 billion) in cash and short-term investments.

Tanmantiong still hopes to achieve a long-term goal of turning the Manila-based company into one of the world’s top five restaurant operators. Jollibee posted a P11.5 billion net loss last year — its first annual loss in at least three decades — as dining out was hammered by the virus.

“There are opportunities coming out of the pandemic,” Tanmantiong said in a Bloomberg interview. “We are constantly assessing these opportunities.”

Jollibee, like restaurant chains around the world, faces a landscape altered by COVID-19. The Philippines sank into recession in 2020, and the strength of its expected recovery may be weaker than initially thought amid an escalation in cases and delayed national vaccination campaign. It has the second-highest number of infections in Southeast Asia, and mobility curbs imposed over the last year have hurt businesses — with restaurants and tourism-related ventures among the hardest hit.

In a bid to counter the impact of the virus, Jollibee — known for dishes like crispy fried chicken and sweet spaghetti — has spent P7 billion on what it calls a business transformation, including upgrades to its delivery and online sales platform.

Now that it’s on stable financial footing, Tanmantiong said the company can make acquisitions as big as The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, its largest purchase ever at $350 million in 2019. There are brands it is interested in, “except that at this time we cannot reveal them yet because we’re doing proper due diligence and assessment,” he said.

Jollibee is pushing for more expansion abroad than at home for a second year.

Some 80% of 2021’s new stores will be overseas and this will be “equally split” among China, North America and Southeast Asia, Tanmantiong said. By 2025, half of its sales will come from abroad — a goal the pandemic pushed back by a year or two, he said. At the end of 2020, 58% of sales came from the Philippines.

“We are now in expansion mode in preparation for the full recovery from the pandemic and this will continue in the next few years,” Tanmantiong said. “We are investing more in foreign markets especially in markets where they have recovered fast from the pandemic.”

While Jollibee closed 486 stores in 2020, it also opened some new ones, and overall had 147 fewer open at the end of last year compared to the end of 2019. Jollibee had more than 5,800 outlets in 33 markets worldwide at the end of last year.

The company’s stock is down 7.8% this year, extending a 9.6% loss in 2020.

CLIMBING BACK

Tanmantiong said he plans to bring back Jollibee’s earnings and growth to pre-pandemic levels by 2022, and double its organic business in four to five years.

The restructuring and authorities’ easing of virus measures put Jollibee in the black in the fourth quarter last year, ending three straight quarters of losses and helping lift its cash balance by 2.3% to P23.4 billion by the end of 2020.

Since releasing 2020 earnings in February, Jollibee had six stock rating upgrades with Morgan Stanley lifting it to overweight. Jollibee is seen to post a P4.12 billion net income this year — jumping to P6.16 billion in 2022 — according to averages of analyst estimates by Bloomberg.

The estimates are “attainable,” Tanmantiong said. “The challenge is really the availability of the vaccine and how soon we can achieve herd immunity.” — Bloomberg

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