Figaro Coffee Group Inc. (PSE:FCG) has recently contracted Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) to automate client payments across all of its retail outlets in the country.
Divina Gracia G. Cabuloy, president and chief executive officer of FCG, said that UnionBank will give the listed company a QRPh code so that it can enhance the number of payment options available to clients in its more than 150 retail restaurants.
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The value of the collaboration was not disclosed by both companies, but according to Cabuloy, the lender would help FCG because its clients would be provided with “even more ways to pay for their purchases in our stores.”
As part of the agreement, Cabuloy said that the staff at FCG’s restaurants will first receive instructions from the lender on how to use QRPH, the Philippines’ QR code standard that is based on the Europay-Mastercard-VISA (EMV) standard — a global standard for secure payments.
For his part, Antonino Agustin S. Fajardo, Corporate Banking Center Head of UnionBank, stated, “Quick Response (QR) code technology is very easy to use; it’s secure, and you can be sure that the money goes to the recipient as intended.”
“From the standpoint of the merchant or corporate, they get their money in real-time, as opposed to cash, which the merchant needs to physically collect and deposit to their account,” he added. The executive further claimed that scanning QR codes “helps minimize cash handlings and the pain points associated with it, such as the inconvenience of giving back loose change, and even pilferage.”
“It also reduces the costs associated with handling cash,” Fajardo continued.
FCG revenues continuing to go up
In a press statement, FCG reported that revenues for the three months ending March 31, 2023, totaled P1.03 billion, up 95% from P528 million during the same period last year, while the same-store sales increased by 6%. Revenues for the nine-month period from July 2022 to March 31, 2023, totaled P3.07 billion, up 73 percent from P1.77 billion.
According to the firm, the inauguration of 29 new locations between July 2022 and March 31, 2023, helped drive its sales growth. The business also claimed to have 155 outlets overall as of the time of its declaration, with 35 stores still under development.
The company’s gross profit grew similarly during the three months ending March 31 from P277.9 million to P487.8 million, a 75.5 percent gain. As a result of the inflationary environment, the cost of goods sold grew by 5.3 percent to 52.6 percent from 47.3 percent.
FCG said that its net income after taxes for the first three months increased by 52 percent, to P99.3 million, from P65.3 million, and increased by 56.5 percent, to P370.6 million, for the first nine months, from P236.7 million.
“It is noteworthy that the company’s nine-month net income after tax of P370.6 million is higher than its full-year 2022 net income of P251 million, or a growth of 48 percent with less than a full fiscal year performance,” the FCG press statement further read.