Emperador Inc., the liquor unit of tycoon Andrew Tan, expects international sales to eventually account for over half of the company’s revenues as the group focuses on pursuing global expansion.
Emperador president Winston Co said in an interview Monday following the annual stockholders’ meeting the company would concentrate on expanding the presence of the whisky and brandy brands in the international arena.
About 60 percent of the group’s total sales come from the Philippines against 40 percent from the international business.
“Eventually that (will) happen because of our push for globalization,” Co said when asked if the share of Philippine business sales would fall below 50 percent with the foreign market expansion
Co said the company was pushing for the malt line, which currently accounts for 65 percent to 70 percent of total branded business of Whyte and Mackay.
Co said the company expects malts over the next five years to account for 80 percent to 85 percent of the branded business.
Emperador has five malts brands under Whyte and Mackay, namely Dalmore, Jura, Tamnavulin, Fettercairn and Shackleton.
“The direction is clear. The direction is to go for high value and fast-growing segment of the market and we are using global distribution strength behind this as well,” Co said.
Emperador’s whiskey business in 2018 accounted for 22 percent of the total revenues while the brandy line contributed 78 percent.
Co expects the share of the whiskey business to increase to 30 percent from the current 28 percent of total revenues.
The company is poised to strengthen its brandy business further by introducing new products to the market. It is also in the process of developing locally produced brandy that can be exported overseas.
“In our planning, we expect the shares of whiskey to go up a bit year-on-year but once we properly implement the global strategy for brandy, it will grow as well,” Co said.
Share price of Emperador on Monday closed unchanged at P7.49.
