Puregold Price Club Inc., the country’s second largest retailer owned by billionaire Lucio Co, will open 25 outlets this year as it pursues an aggressive expansion plan.
Puregold vice president for investor relations John Marson Hao said the company was also scheduled to open four S&R Membership warehouse stores this year.
Hao said the company would use proceeds from the recently-concluded P4.69-billion offering to fund the construction of new Puregold and S&R stores.
The company in the past several years has been opening 25 Puregold stores annually and successfully put up outlets in areas outside Metro Manila in a bid to sustain gross and net profit margins.
The Puregold group as of end September 2018 had a total of 397 stores nationwide. These include 345 Puregold stores, 16 S&R membership shopping warehouses and 36 S&R New York Style outlets.
Hao did not disclose the locations of the new Puregold stores. He said, though, that on S&R store will open this year each in Metro Manila and Southern Luzon and two outside Metro Manila.
The company also lined up two new S&R stores for opening by 2020.
Puregold last week successfully raised P4.69 billion through an overnight placement from 104 million shareholders at P45 per share. The company said it would use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, capital expenditure and potential acquisitions.
The sale share represents 3.8 percent of Puregold’s total issued and outstanding capital stock.
Puregold has also been aggressively acquiring grocery chains across the country.
Among the recently-acquired grocery chains were the nine-store NE Bodega supermarket in Nueva Ecija, the eight-store supermarket chain Budgetlane and five-store retailer B&W in Roxas City, Capiz.
The company’s expansion is geared toward new geographic locations and is aimed at the board mass market.
Puregold in 2018 allotted P3.65 billion in capital expenditures in 2018.
The share price of Puregold has been on an upward trend since the start of the year as the company is expected to benefit from lower inflation rate and strong consumer spending.
