Despite the setbacks incurred in 2020 due to the onset of the ongoing pandemic, Wilcon Depot, Inc. has reiterated its expansion plan to have 100 locations nationwide by the year 2025.
The home improvement and construction supply retailer currently operates 66 stores across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. It is set to open another branch on June 25. By the end of 2020, it was operating 63 stores and by end of 2021, the company is confident it would operate 72.
When the community quarantine was initially implemented in the country in the middle of March 2020, Wilcon was forced to shut down for two months about 85% of its then 58 stores.
Leading local retailers in pandemic management
During the company’s recent 2021 annual stockholders’ online meeting, President and CEO Lorraine Belo-Cincochan said Wilcon did not lay off or furlough employees amid the pandemic and even during the two-month closure of its stores in 2020.
Belo-Cincochan also revealed that Wilcom was among the first local companies to order vaccines to be provided for free to its employees, with an equal quantity to be donated to the national government. The company has also donated to various communities where it operates as well as to different institutions and organizations amid the pandemic.
In an online press conference attended by Tech and Lifestyle Journal after the annual stockholders’ meeting, Wilcon Depot SEVP-COO Rosemarie Ong recalled that the company was among the first retailers to incentivize vaccinated customers. “Wilcon was the first to implement discounts and give freebies to customers who have received Covid vaccinations. This is aimed at convincing more consumers to be more confident in receiving vaccines,” said Ong, who is also the current President of the Philippine Retailers Association.
Online shareholders’ meeting
The recently held shareholders’ meeting was Wilcon Depot’s second facilitated online after 2020 due to the pandemic. Independent directors, Messrs. Bertram Lim. Rolando Narciso, Ricardo Pascua, and Delfin Warren and executive directors, Belo-Cincochan, Mark Andrew Belo, and Careen Belo were re-elected by the shareholders. Also elected as the company’s external auditor was the firm Reyes, Tacandong & Co.
The shareholders approved and ratified all acts of the board of directors and officers during the previous year—including the annual report and the financial statement as of December 31, 2021. Chairman Emeritus and founder William Belo thanked all Wilcon employees for their hard work and hailed them as heroes for delivering the same excellence in customer service despite the challenges of the times.
Wilcon Depot’s net sales in 2020 dropped 7.5% to ₱22.6 billion. Its year-on-year net income fell 31.8% to ₱1.4 billion. For the first three months of 2021, the company’s net income jumped by 84% to ₱604 million from net sales of ₱6.7 billion, which in turn reflected a 19.4% rise compared to the same period in 2020.
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