Puregold Price Club Inc., a supermarket chain operator led by businessman Lucio Co., said Thursday it booked a net income of P5.53 billion in 2016, up 10.5 percent from P5 billion in 2015, as it continued to pursue an aggressive store expansion.
Puregold said consolidated net sales increased 15.9 percent to P112.6 last year, boosted by the opening of 26 new Puregold stores and two S&R Membership warehouse outlets.
Income from operations grew 13.3 percent to P8.1 billion in 2016 from P7.15 billion in 2015.
“Our 2016 same-store sales growth of 6.2 percent for Puregold stores and 4.4 percent for S&R stores were driven by continued strong consumer demand even after the elections. For 2017, we will continue to build another 25 new Puregold stores and 2 S&R Membership Warehouse [outlets] to cater to the growing Filipino consumers,” Puregold president Vincent Co said.
Puregold group had a total of 329 stores nationwide as of end-2016.
These include 277 Puregold stores, 12 S&R membership shopping warehouse outlets, 23 S&R New York Style QSR stores, 9 NE Bodega Supermarkets and 8 Budgetlane Supermarkets.
Cosco Capital Inc., the holding company of Co, reported a 5.4-percent increase in net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company to P4.73 billion last year.
Puregold and S&R contributed 59 percent of Cosco’s total profit, followed by the commercial real estate segment with 22 percent and liquor distribution with 16 percent.
The group’s specialty retailing segment, composed of Liquigaz Philippines Corp. and Office Warehouse Inc., accounted for 7 percent of the net profit.
Consolidated revenues rose 10.7 percent to P129.2 billion while consolidated net income rose 7 percent to P7.5 billion.
“We are pleased to announce our full year 2016 financial results. Our strength in retailing shows through the continued growth in our grocery, liquor, and office supplies and technology products retail businesses. Despite challenges in the LPG space, we believe that 2017 would be a better year for Liquigaz,” Cosco president Leonardo Dayao said.
“Cosco Capital is continuously investing in our subsidiaries to support its growth momentum, in addition to actively seeking for new strategic business opportunities in the retailing space,” Dayao said.