Emperador earmarks P6.5 billion capex

MANILA, Philippines — Emperador Inc., the global brandy and whisky conglomerate led by tycoon Andrew Tan, is earmarking P6.5 billion for capital expenditures this year as the company aims to beat its performance last year.

Emperador president Winston Co said the company hopes to finish the year better than it did in 2023.

“As you have seen, we had a very strong performance last year in 2023. And we believe that this year, we will continue to perform hopefully better than last year,” Co said.

“And when you look at the horizon for the next five years, we are excited about the prospect because we believe that there will be a rebound in consumer spending, particularly so on the super and luxury category. With this, we are very excited about the future and confident that we will continue to grow,” he said.

Last year, Co said the company encountered a lot of challenges, such as conflicts that affected prices of commodities and caused disruption to the supply chain and logistics.

“All of these have cost implications. Global inflation is also a concern. But what we’ve seen is that there is an easing in global stress, if I may call it, and we believe that after these adjustments, I think we had some difficulty last year but we did well internationally,” Co said.

“I think the pressure will continue to be present this year, but we’re trying our extreme best to outperform 2023. So the challenges will always be with us. We just need to be more flexible, more resilient and more creative in our approach to the market,” he also said.

Emperador intends to utilize bulk of its capex this year for its whisky business, particularly for the Dalmore distillery expansion which will be completed in the latter half of the year.

The expansion will double the capacity of the current Dalmore distillery.

“The Dalmore expansion will be fully completed by the end of the year so we would be able to double our capacity so we will be able to meet future requirements for the year 2035, 2036 and beyond,” Co said.

The company has also started expanding the maturation complex in Invergordon, Scotland, building more warehouses for whisky aging to house the additional liquid to be produced by the larger Dalmore distillery.

Aside from capacity expansion, Emperador said the capex will also partly fund Whyte and Mackay’s goal to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Among Whyte and Mackay’s sustainability projects are an anaerobic digestion bioenergy center and a biomass boiler system.

A small portion of the capex, meanwhile, will be used by the brandy business for upgrades in machinery and equipment to facilitate more efficient operations.

“Emperador has maintained its momentum of success. We remain steadfast in fulfilling our strategic initiatives and expansion plans,” Tan said.

“Emperador looks ahead with optimism. We will engage in continuous improvement not just in operational excellence, but also in our environmental, social and governance initiatives. As we look to the future, we remain committed to sustaining our momentum for long term growth and success,” he said.

Emperador, which is publicly-listed at both the Philippine Stock Exchange and the Singapore Exchange, owns Emperador Brandy. Its portfolio of brands also includes Fundador Brandy, The Dalmore, Fettercairn, Jura and Tamnavulin Single Malt Scotch whiskies.