Pork and beef vendor North Star Meat Merchants Inc. is expanding its distribution channels by putting up meat counters in 1,000 Alfamart stores, a top executive said over the weekend.
North Star chairman and chief executive Anthony Ng said the group teamed up with Alfamart, one the leading convenience store chains in the country, to add the mini-meat shop concept in its branches.
SM and Alfamart Indonesia jointly own Alfarmart stores in the Philippines.
North Star, under the plan, will sell meat products in Alfamart stores, which will be manned by a trained butcher. North Star will also sell frozen, pre-packaged meat products in Alfamart stores.
North Star initially set up meat counters in 12 Alfamart branches.
“We will set-up community-based meat shops inside the Alfamart stores,” Ng said.
He said the strategy was expected to bring the North Meat’s products to community level and reach more customers.
Ng said he expected the move to significantly increase its sales. North Star operates in all SM Markets such as SM Supermarket, Hypermarket and Savemore; 7-Eleven, WalterMart and Alfamart across the Philippines. It supplies frozen local and imported meat and other meat products.
North Star expects sales to reach P9.3 billion this year, resulting in a net income of P850 million, up 35 percent from P630 million in 2021, Ng said.
Ng expressed hope that North Star would get a higher valuation once it pushed through with its initial public offering next year.
Ng said the company was looking at higher IPO proceeds as it aimed to attract foreign investors.
North Star was initially looking to raise P4.5 billion from its maiden share offering which it deferred because of volatile market conditions.