Puregold Price Club Inc., the country’s second largest grocery chain owned by businessman Lucio Co, recorded a consolidated net income of P1.51 billion in the first quarter of 2019, up 11.9 percent from P1.35 billion year-on-year, on double digit growth in revenues.
Puregold said in a disclosure to the stock exchange consolidated net sales increased 12.8 percent to P34.83 billion in the first three months of 2019.
The company attributed 76 percent of the sales to the Puregold stores network and 24 percent to the S&R Membership warehouse clubs and S&R New York Style Pizza stores.
Income from operations rose to P2.57 billion in the first quarter of 2019, up 9.1 percent from P2.36 billion year-on-year.
Puregold stores registered stronger-than-expected same store sales growth of 6.9 percent in the first quarter of 2019 while S&R posted 9.4 percent during the same period.
“Our SSSG in the first quarter of 2019 is driven by higher consumer spending fueled both by minimum wage inflation in 2018 and easing inflation in 2019,” said Puregold said.
The Puregold group at the end of March had a total of 417 stores nationwide. These include 362 Puregold stores, 17 S&R membership shopping warehouses and 38 S&R New York Style QSR with a total net selling area of around 550,000 sq. m.
Puregold has earmarked P5.2 billion in capital expenditures this year primarily to add 25 new Puregold stores and four new S&R warehouse as part of a store network expansion. It aims to expand net sales by at least 8 percent to 10 percent to this year.
Meanwhile Cosco Capital Inc., the retail holding firm of Co, reported a consolidated core net income growth of 9.3 percent to P 2.06 billion from P1.88 billion in the first quarter of 2019, driven by the continued economic growth and the higher consumer spending as a result of the tax reform law.
Including the gain realized from the sale of Liquigaz Philippines Corp., consolidated net income jumped 436 percent to P10 billion.
The group’s liquor distribution business posted a 24-percent growth in revenues to P2.1 billion while the specialty retailing business segment registered 24-percent increase in revenues to P621 million.