Nan Ren Hu Leisure Amusement Co Ltd (南仁湖育樂), which operates seven expressway service stations, expects its sales to grow by a double-digit percentage this weekend compared with a normal weekday, as motorists hit the nation’s roads during the four-day national holiday.
The long weekend combining Children’s Day and Tomb Sweeping Day began yesterday and continues through Monday.
Nan Ren Hu said its daily customer flow at its service stations generally shows a double-digit percentage growth during holiday weekends compared with weekdays.
This year, there are six weekend holidays, more than in previous years, which should potentially boost Nan Ren Hu’s sales, which rose 13.3 percent year-on-year in the first two months of the year to NT$292.95 million (US$9.36 million).
To boost customer flow, the company plans to adopt different topics with which to decorate its service stations, while readjusting their product mixes, Nan Ren Hu said.
Plans to transform the service stations into leisure attractions would also help sustain sales momentum, the company said.
Nan Ren Hu posted net income of NT$165.27 million, or earnings per share of NT$0.66, last year, up 34.62 percent from NT$122.77 million, or earnings per share of NT$0.44, the previous year.
Meanwhile, the nation’s two major convenience store operators — President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商) and Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店) — also said they are expecting higher sales during the long weekend.
PCSC, which operates the nation’s largest convenience store chain, 7-Eleven, said the company has prepared an additional 20 percent of beverages and snack food to cope with the expected strong demand from domestic travelers over the weekend.
Taiwan FamilyMart has launched a sales campaign for exclusive picnic products, as it expects many people will go for a picnic during the weekend because of the warm weather.
PCSC’s consolidated sales in the first two months of this year totaled NT$32.08 billion, up 0.37 percent from the previous year, while Taiwan FamilyMart posted NT$8.84 billion in consolidated revenue, an increase of 3.08 percent from the same period last year.
Last year, the two companies reported the highest profits in their history, with PCSC’s net income increasing 13.06 percent year-on-year to NT$9.09 billion, or earnings per share of NT$8.74, while Taiwan FamilyMart’s net income rose 18.24 percent to NT$1.29 billion, or earnings per share of NT$5.8, according to companies’ financial data.
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