TAIPEI – President Chain Store Corp., operator of more than 4,800 7-Eleven stores in Taiwan, announced plans last week to boost its profitability in 2013 by “concentrating on profit-making overseas business segments and consolidating money-losing ones,” writes the Taipei Times.

A company official told the news source that the company is slowing down the pace of its overseas expansion, and will be focusing on China and the Philippines to grow its business in those two countries.

“Centralizing the development of certain business sectors and markets is the company’s main strategy [this year],” PCSC President Ray Chen said during a press conference.

The company has been accelerating its growth in the Chinese market for several years, but has also found it difficult to boost profitability. In Shanghai, a city with about 20,000 convenience stores, the high cost of renting properties has made it difficulty for President Chain Store to generate profits in China last year, despite experiencing 8.6% growth in revenue, notes the news source. Therefore the company is planning more profitable business models in three areas of China, such as supermarkets, convenience stores and refreshment restaurants, and would only expand new stores under these formats in the future, according to Chen.

President Chain Store is also continuing its expansion in the Philippines, with the number of stores expected to reach 1,000, up from the current 829 stores, notes the news source, adding that the company has also decided to terminate or sell a number of its investments, including leaving the Vietnamese market.