New store openings are maintaining a modest 7-Eleven Malaysia sales growth rate – but improved margins are driving solid profit improvement.

The listed convenience store operator released its third-quarter results on Friday, which showed third-quarter sales growth of 1 per cent and year-to-date growth of 1.3 per cent.

But net profit was up 4.1 per cent for the quarter and 13.3 per cent year to date.

CEO Colin Harvey said net profit grew 27.6 per cent quarter on quarter.

“However, this is only the first step in the right direction towards where the organisation should be, and there is scope for improvement. I am confident that our strategy roadmap focussed on strengthening the key areas of, assortment, supply chain, operational excellence, store base, and digitally enabling the organisation will bear fruit in terms of financial performance, and overall customer shopping experience.”

He said the group’s net revenue of RM1.66 billion year to date was driven by growth in new stores and consumer promotion activity.

Continued store expansion has taken the network to 2259 stores.

7-Eleven Malaysia expects trading conditions for the next quarter to improve with the anticipated heightened consumer sentiment.

“We expect to see further improvements in the next quarter by pursuing our core strategy pillars of operations excellence, cost management and commercial innovation,” the company said.