Fourth-quarter profit has soared for 7-Eleven Malaysia following modest sales growth.

Its net profit shot up 66.5 per cent as total sales growth rose 4.3 per cent or the quarter and average customer spend grew 1.5 per cent.

The convenience store chain’s gross profit margin continues to improve, it reports.

With 126 stores opening last year and 23 stores closing, the network totalled 2225 outlets at the end of December.

“We achieved significant improvement in our net profit in the fourth quarter, driven by increase in revenue, gross margin improvement and higher other income,” says the company.

Its net profit was 4 per cent lower because of first-quarter delivery problems through a  third-party logistics provider.

For the final quarter, group revenue was RM546.2 million (US$138.9 million), up 4.3 per cent. Growth continued to be driven by store expansion, higher average customer spend and improved consumer promotion activity.

Gross profit was up 8.2 per cent to RM173.8 million, mainly attributed to revenue growth and a 1.1-point improvement in gross margin.

For the 12 months to the end of December, the group’s revenue rose 4 per cent to RM2.19 billion.

Gross profit improved by 6.9 per cent to RM44.8 million, with a nine-point improvement in gross margin.
The group’s profit after tax fell 4 per cent to RM50.1 million.