Emperador profit picks up 19% to P1.7B

MANILA, Philippines - Emperador Distillers Inc., the hard liquor unit of property tycoon Andrew Tan, recorded double-digit profit and revenue growth in the first quarter on the back of strong sales.

In a regulatory filing, Emperador said its net income picked up 19 percent to P1.7 billion while consolidated revenues rose 17 percent to P7.7 billion from P6.6 billion a year ago.

“Emperador managed to sell more volume in the first quarter of this year nationwide,” the company said.

 Emperador, the world’s largest selling brandy, is also the largest liquor company in the Philippines. Seven out of 10 liquor bottles sold in Manila are Emperador brandy, the listed firm said.

“Emperador is best positioned to take advantage of the country’s robust economic growth and to continue dominating the liquor market,” said company president Winston Co.

“Strategic investments are in place to accelerate the growth momentum and expand its global footprint,” he added.

The company has budgeted P4 billion for the expansion of its local bottling facility, which is currently running at 75-percent capacity.

The liquor firm also invested P5.8 billion in vineyards, distilleries and bodegas in Spain with the acquisition of Bodega San Bruno S.A. It now owns about 1,000 hectares of land, which the company plans to build into vineyards to support its brandy production in Spain.

Emperador’s goal is to double its sales in the next four years to account  for a third of the global brandy market.

Emperador is also training its sights on new markets such as Vietnam to boost its revenues.

Among the company’s products include Emperador Gold Light brandies and a line of flavored alcoholic beverages called The Bar. It recently introduced Emperador Deluxe that is bottled in Spain.

Emperador is part of Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc., which is also into property (Megaworld Group), fastfood (McDonald’s franchise operator Golden Arches Development Corp.) and hotels and casino (Travellers International Hotel Group Inc.).