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MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has agreed to buy five coast guard patrol ships from Japan in a deal worth more than $400 million, Manila said Friday, as the Southeast Asian country faces growing Chinese pressure in the South China Sea.
Jollibee [JFC 224.00, up 0.9%; 300% avgVol] [link] posted a Q1 net income attributable of P2.6 billion, up 27% from its Q1/23 net income attributable of P2.1 billion. JFC said it was able to grow profit margins and exceed its Q1 performance outlook thanks to “healthy top line growth combined with further operational efficiencies and effective management of expenses”. JFC’s system-wide sales were up 10.4% to P86.8 billion due to new store additions and same-store sales growth was up 5.5%, which JFC said was due to increased volume. Across all of JFC’s segmented business units, “Europe, Middle East, Asia” had the largest same-store sales growth (+14.7%) and system-wide sales growth (+25.5%). The “People’s Republic of China” and “Highlands Coffee” were negative in terms of same-store sales growth (-3.7% and -9.0%, respectively), and only the People’s Republic of China business unit was negative in terms of system-wide sales growth (-3.7%). JFC said that its difficulties in China are partly due to a high bar effect from last year’s success, and a slowdown in the quick service restaurant industry in that country more generally. JFC said that while Highlands Coffee saw its same-store sales growth fall 9.0%, it did “better than industry” and managed to gain 4% market share during that period.
NEW DELHI: Philippine activists have started a journey towards a contested reef in the South China Sea. This action has led China to warn Manila for allowing the civilian mission in the West Philippine Sea, which is a term used by Manila to refer to the waters in the South China Sea falling within its 200-nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), as reported by Voice of America.
MANILA/BEIJING: The Philippines said on Monday it would keep a closer guard on reefs, shoals and islets in its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea, alarmed by reports of new reclamation activities by China, which Beijing denied. The Philippine Coast Guard said on Saturday it had deployed a ship to Sabina Shoal on the Spratly archipelago, where it accused China of building an artificial island, having documented what it said were piles of dead and crushed coral on the sandbars.
SANTA ANA:- The far-flung coastal town of Santa Ana in the northeastern tip of the Philippine mainland has long been known by tourists mostly for its beaches, waterfalls, fireflies, and a few casinos. But that's changing after the laid-back town of about 35,000 people, which still has no traffic light, became strategically important to America. The United States and the Philippines, which are longtime treaty allies, have identified Santa Ana in northern Cagayan province as one of nine mostly rural areas where rotating batches of American forces could encamp indefinitely and store their weapons and equipment on local military bases under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
OVERSEAS Filipino worker (OFW) remittances rebounded to $3.05 trillion in March from nine-month low, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data showed on Wednesday.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Asian audiences are increasingly turning to homegrown content in their streaming choices. Asian titles powering 80% of premium VOD engagement and customer acquisition, according to new research from research and consultancy firm Media Partners Asia. “The Rise of Asian Content” is based on passive tracking of 40,000 users by sister company AMPD in nine major Asian markets – Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand – over 15 months between Jan.
WASHINGTON, United States — US President Joe Biden's administration informed Congress on Tuesday of a $1 billion weapons package for Israel, official sources told AFP, a week after threatening to withhold some arms over concerns of a Rafah assault.