JAKARTA - The retail company of the Lippo Group owned by conglomerate Mochtar Riady, PT Matahari Putra Prima Tbk (MPPA) is still having trouble making a profit from its business. In the first three months of this year, the company continued to lose money even though its sales grew.
In this period, the total sales of this Hypermart outlet manager rose 9.2 percent to Rp1.69 trillion. But the loss also increased from Rp. 83.7 billion to Rp. 109.16 billion.
Responding to its financial performance, Matahari Putra management explained that the first quarter of 2022 is still facing a period full of challenges for business operations. One of them is because of the Omicron variant that spreads quickly and has a national impact.
In addition, during January to mid-March, the PPKM restrictions had an impact on the operating hours of the Company's stores, both independently located and in shopping centers. Including children under 12 years old, they are not allowed to enter into certain PPKM conditions, causing a decrease in visitors and loss of potential business.
"This has an impact on major family-based customers to meet their household needs and MPPA stores are unable to maximize their retail operations during this period," MPPA Chief Executive Officer Elliot Dickson said in a statement, quoted Tuesday, May 10.
In addition, the Government regulation that set the HET price of Rp. 14,000 per liter for packaged cooking oil in mid-January, which is the main and most important product of the Company in its product offerings, has also significantly impacted the scarcity of cooking oil in the market and created pressures and challenges. on the achievement of the Company's performance.
Even so, management sees potential for business growth after completing the first quarter. "With the easing of community mobility, PPKM rates and business operating hours, April sales showed significant growth compared to previous months. This brought more momentum to improve our sales performance to ahead," Dickson added.
Elliot also emphasized that his party is changing the direction of the Company's sales growth and is preparing to enter Q2 and the next period during 2022 to bring MPPA to the right footing as a leading modern FMCG retailer in Indonesia.
“We are already on a good O2O transformation path and will continue our focus on running our retail business, both offline and online. More collaboration with marketplace players and multiple expansions of smaller, more efficient stores in standalone locations are high on our agenda and priority for sustainable implementation," said Dickson.
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