Puregold Price Club Inc., the grocery chain operator owned by tycoon Lucio Co., said Wednesday net income rose 18.9 percent in 2020 to P8.05 billion from P6.77 billion in 2019.
The company said it benefitted from higher consumer spending and panic buying amid the pandemic.
Puregold said in a disclosure to the stock exchange unaudited consolidated net sales increased 9.2 percent last year to P168.63, higher than the company’s earlier target of a 4- to 5-percent growth.
“Our company has achieved a record-breaking year in 2020 despite a lot of challenges due to COVID-19 pandemic. We cannot achieve this without the support and commitment of our suppliers and employees on providing the best product and service to our customers,” said Puregold chairman Lucio Co.
“We are committed to driving sustainable growth in 2021 through continued store expansions and innovations in grocery retailing,” Co said.
The company’s flagship brand Puregold accounted for 73 percent of the revenues, while 27 percent came from S&R Membership warehouse clubs and S&R New York Style Pizza stores.
Puregold stores registered same-store sales growth of 2.4 percent in 2020, while S&R registered a SSSG of 8.7 percent in the same period.
Unaudited consolidated income from operations reached P13.4 billion in 2020, up by 17.3 percent from P11.4 billion in 2019.
Puregold had 469 stores nationwide as of end-2020. These included 403 Puregold stores, 20 S&R membership shopping warehouse outlets and 46 S&R New York Style QSR.
Pursue said would continue to pursue acquisitions and expand into new geographic locations.
The share price of Puregold rose 1.12 percent Wednesday to close at P40.45.
