EMPERADOR Inc., liquor unit of businessman Andrew L. Tan, said it managed to grow its net income by 5 percent last year after buying Scottish company Whyte & Mackay.
Company executives, however, promised a much larger growth this year.
Emperador, which said it is selling one in five bottles of its eponymous brandy in the world, said it recorded a P6.1-billon net income last year, slightly up from the previous year’s P5.8 billion. Emperador’s consolidated revenues increased by 7 percent to P32 billion.
The said growth was slower than it experienced in 2013, when its profits grew by 17 percent year-on-year and revenues by 25 percent.
“We have successfully transformed Emperador into a global company after our acquisition of Whyte & Mackay in the United Kingdom, and various vineyard and brandy production facilities in Spain. We see 2015 as the beginning of the rapid expansion of our businesses, both in the domestic and global markets. This year we expect our revenues to grow by 35 percent,” Tan, the company’s chairman, said in a statement.
Emperador bought Glasgow, Scotland-based Whyte & Mackay, the world’s fifth-largest liquor maker, for about P31.7 billion.
The company ended last year a net cash position of P4.85 billion.
Emperador said it spent close to P35 billion overseas last year, but will again be debt-free in a few months as it intend to prepay its loan using its cash pile of about P24 billion as of 2013.
“This gives us a lot of room for more acquisitions and expansion activities when opportunities arise in the domestic and global market,” it said.
Emperador President Winston Co said the company will launch eight major liquor products in the country to cover all segments and categories in the market. In an earlier interview, Co said the company may introduce a whiskey product, which is not as popular as its brandy.
“This 2015 will be the busiest and most exciting year for the company,” he said.
There’s a healthy growth in the global brandy market from 2013 to 2018, with volume to reach 195 million cases by 2018, Emperador said, citing Euromonitor International’s forecast.
“We are set to launch Emperador in several countries in Europe and Africa, and we will be very active in Duty Free travel retail shops globally. Depending on the price points required by our clients, we can supply Emperador products from either the Philippines or Spain. With our aggressive pace, we expect our current share in the world brandy market to grow even further,” the company said.