Thank you for joining us at President Chain Store Corp's online investor conference hosted by MasterLink Securities. Today's session will be divided into two parts. First, an update on the company's performance, followed by a Q&A session. Let's welcome Chelsea, Manager of the IR team, and Alicia, Member of the IR team. Over to you, IR team.
Thank you. Welcome everyone, thank you for taking the time to join us online for the investor conference of President Chain Store Corp. We'll begin with a quick update on our performance for the first three quarters of this year. PCSC's consolidated revenue grew by 3.6% in the first three quarters. This was mainly driven by the solid growth from 7-Eleven Taiwan, COSMED, Starbucks, among others. Consolidated gross margin went up by 0.39% year-over-year, mainly driven by continued product mix optimization and economies of scale.
The consolidated operating profit grew by 2.4% in turn. Net income after tax declined by 4% compared to the same period last year, mainly due to one-off items such as the disposal gain from Shandong President Yinzuo and tax reversals. After excluding one-off items, profit continued to grow slightly. This indicated a robust profit growth of our core businesses. As for non-operating items, we saw reduced interest income due to lower USD interest rates as well as ongoing investments. Looking at the performance of 7-Eleven Taiwan, the first three quarters saw a revenue growth of 4.4%, driven by ongoing store expansion and PSD sales growth. As of the end of September, our store count reached 7,186, a net increase of 109 stores year to date. We remain focused on enhancing store quality and optimizing operational efficiency. Major revenue growth drivers included fresh food, beverages, and CITY CAFE.
Among our subsidiaries, the performance of COSMED was particularly strong. We expect its economies of scale to continue. Overall, 7-Eleven Taiwan and our domestic and international subsidiaries demonstrated solid growth across the board. That concludes our update.
Thank you, Chelsea, for the update. We have received several questions. The first question concerns Carrefour store expansion and closure plans. When do we expect profitability to return to pre-acquisition levels?
Regarding Carrefour, we've been actively expanding our supermarket formats this year, while at the same time improving store-level operations. We've closed underperforming locations and continued optimizing our product mix, along with refining internal processes, organizational structure, and business models. These efforts are building a healthy foundation for sustainable future growth. Carrefour's integration with the group's UNIOPEN platform and co-branded credit card this year has strengthened the group's retail ecosystem, offering customers greater choice and convenience. This enhances our service value proposition.
The market is evolving toward an omni-channel model with multiple consumer touchpoints. Our group now spans convenience stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets, online platforms, and delivery services, offering comprehensive product selection and services across formats. This multi-format approach allows us to reach broader customer segments and generate operational synergies across the group.
Thank you for that, Chelsea. The second question concerns the expansion plans in Taiwan and the Philippines.
Thank you for the question. First, on Taiwan, our 7-Eleven store count reached 7,186 as of the end of September. Looking at broader demographic trends, aging population, smaller households, we're seeing sustained growth in customer demand for convenience. Our proximity to homes and workplaces, combined with our expanding product mix, positions us as a preferred choice for customers. Meanwhile, challenges such as labor shortages, rising costs are forcing some competitors to close stores, creating expansion opportunities for us.
We're also leveraging our integrated logistics infrastructure, cold chain capabilities, and fresh food manufacturing with quality controls to preserve and modernize Taiwan's local food culture in a safe, contemporary way. We are developing new store formats to strengthen ready-to-eat and ready-to-drink offerings in fresh categories. Looking ahead, we envision convenience stores evolving into comprehensive lifestyle service platforms. Beyond product sales, we will provide diverse services, safe after-school spaces for children, for example, meal solutions, and remittance services for migrant workers and tourists, among others. We see ourselves as playing a vital role in supporting society's evolving needs, rather than simply operating as a retailer. This year, alongside rapid expansion, we have continued optimizing store quality to improve PSD sales and profitability. Through ongoing store expansion and quality investment, we aim to capture a greater market share and maintain our long-term leadership position.
We're projecting a net increase of around 150-200 stores per year for both 2025 and 2026. The pace of expansion will adapt to market demand and competitive dynamics. The question also asked about the Philippines. 7-Eleven Philippines had 4,366 stores as of the end of September. Beyond deepening our presence in Metro Manila, we are actively expanding into other regions and islands, including Visayas and Mindanao. Our strategy going forward will focus on expanding our large format stores and optimizing product mix. One example is the launch of our Essential product line, which offers more affordable options to reach broader customer segments. Strong expansion is planned for the Philippines with an expected net increase of 300-400 stores per year.
Thank you, Chelsea. Next question: Which businesses or subsidiaries will be your profitability drivers going forward?
Thank you for the question. The Philippines remains a key growth driver for the group. Post-pandemic, continued store expansion and operational scale-up have driven simultaneous revenue and profit growth while strengthening our market position. Local economic growth is also boosting demand for fresh food, a category where our ready-to-eat and ready-to-drink offerings provide competitive advantages and drive ongoing growth. While operating performance has faced some near-term headwinds this year, including the temporary delisting of e-cigarettes due to regulatory changes, downtime from one of the local e-money issuers, and broader macroeconomic pressures, 7-Eleven Philippines maintains high market share, a solid operating foundation, and strong adaptability, positioning it well for medium to long-term growth. We've begun piloting non-cash payment tools at select stores. Early results show significant ticket size increases. We plan to roll out these payment options to approximately 1,000 stores by year-end.
With full network coverage next year, we expect these ticket size improvements to further boost PSD sales. Overall, we remain highly confident in the Philippine market and have continued increasing our ownership stake. As the external environment gradually improves and operating momentum recovers, we believe the Philippines will continue delivering solid contribution to the group. Beyond the Philippines, COSMED had 540 stores across Taiwan as of the end of September, a net increase of 49 stores year to date. With a steadily accelerating expansion pace, COSMED is improving profit margins through economies of scale and product mix optimization. Net profit has grown at a double-digit rate year to date. Going forward, we will continue store expansion while enhancing the in-store experience and browsing appeal to meet customers' comprehensive shopping needs.
We are observing market trends driven by rising health awareness, growing demand for cosmetics and skincare, and population aging, all of which suggest continued growth potential for health and beauty retail. COSMED will continue expanding through diverse store formats and network growth while optimizing our product mix to span pharmaceuticals, drugstore items, cosmetics, and daily necessities. We're also introducing differentiated services at stores such as pharmacists, consultation, and beauty advisory services while strengthening OMO integration and member experiences through digital channels. These efforts will enhance customer loyalty and drive PSD sales growth, supporting the brand's continued expansion. On logistics. To support growing online and offline operations, we are advancing logistics integration with the new logistics parks across northern, central, and southern Taiwan to adapt to the rapidly evolving retail landscape. These investments will deliver more efficient multi-temperature warehousing and distribution, building our Pan-Asian distribution platform.
President Transnet will continue serving ambient and cold chain delivery needs while expanding platform and cross-border e-commerce partnerships. Furthermore, in view of Taiwan's rising health consciousness and aging demographics, President Transnet has obtained relevant pharmaceutical certifications from the TFDA and is actively developing pharmaceutical logistics. We are expanding partnerships with leading pharmaceutical manufacturers and mid to large corporate clients. To support this business growth, we are progressively strengthening organizational capabilities, adding personnel, facilities, vehicles, and quality control systems. Our supporting logistics operations will continue leveraging multi-temperature facilities and distribution capabilities at our logistics parks, using more automation and intelligent warehouse management systems to optimize operational efficiency. Once internal demand is consistently met, we'll further expand services for third parties to improve overall capacity utilization and operational efficiency.
In China, our logistics operations support not only the group's existing retail businesses but will also gradually provide logistics resources for Uni-President China's operations, expanding our overall footprint. Beyond the key growth drivers mentioned above, other subsidiaries, including Starbucks Taiwan, remain on a steady growth trajectory. We are also actively pursuing new business opportunities to sustain overall group growth momentum.
Thank you, Chelsea, for that. Next question: Given the large logistics centers planned over the next three years, what will be the near-term cost impact?
Our logistics improvements in recent years are essential to support both online and offline expansion. We need a comprehensive, scalable logistics infrastructure. This is core to improving the group's operating efficiency and competitiveness. That is why, since 2023, we've committed tens of billions of Taiwan dollars to logistics integration initiatives, constructing major logistics parks in northern, central, and southern Taiwan.
These parks will integrate automation and intelligent warehousing systems to improve energy efficiency for a greener infrastructure. These efforts support our store expansion plans and e-commerce development while enhancing overall operational flexibility. Expected benefits include improved distribution efficiency, reduced labor dependency, and mitigation of labor shortage risks. By year-end, Tainan Xinshi Logistics Park will begin operations, serving as a key hub in the group's logistics network. Going forward, once logistics capacity exceeds internal expansion needs, we will serve third-party clients with logistics and warehousing services, enhancing operational efficiency and generating new growth drivers.
Thank you, Chelsea. Next question: The group has launched a co-branded credit card with CTBC Bank, strengthening the OPENPOINT ecosystem. How do you view the potential benefits going forward?
The group continues building a retail ecosystem centered on OPENPOINT. As of Q3 2025, OP membership exceeded 19 million, with members spending 1.6 x that of non-members. Member sales now contribute over 50% of total revenue. In 2025, we further expanded OP redemption to more businesses within the group, including Carrefour, Yahoo, and PChome, while increasing partnerships with external channels to enhance cross-platform point portability. OPENPOINT points can now be used for product redemption, transfers, discounts, bill payments, as well as tax payments, featuring the convenience and flexibility of virtual currency. Through data integration, we can better understand customer demographics and their purchasing behaviors. In August this year, we launched the UNIOPEN co-branded credit card with CTBC Bank. Cardholders can accumulate OPENPOINT points through purchases within and outside the group, as well as overseas. Our first-year target is 1 million cards. We expect the high penetration of the credit card to further enhance member stickiness.
It also allows us to launch more attractive reward campaigns with support from our financial partners. For the group, UNIOPEN represents critical digital transformation infrastructure, integrating operations, data, and customer service beyond just membership management. This positions us for cross-channel services, digital innovation, and sustained competitive advantage in the long run. Thank you.
Thank you, Chelsea, for your detailed explanation. That's all the questions we have received.
This concludes our investor conference today. Thanks again to the IR team of PCSC. Thank you all for your attendance.