Emperador asserts dominance as it goes hopping abroad

After bucking last year’s earnings downturn despite the pandemic, tycoon Andrew Tan-led liquor-maker Emperador Inc. expects its international business to remain robust this year as various brands continue to expand to new markets.

As demand for brandy and scotch whisky continues to grow exponentially, Emperador seeks to cement its dominant market position in various markets around the world.

“We remain optimistic that we can sustain the momentum of our international business this year as we expect continuing increase in the production and distribution volume of our brandy and whisky products all across Asia, North America, Latin America, Europe and Africa this year,” Glenn Manlapaz, chief executive at Emperador International, said in a press statement on Monday.

“Emperador is the only Filipino consumer brand company today that is not only present across the different continents of the world, but also dominates most of the brandy and whisky markets in several countries where the products are sold,” he added.

The brandy business grew by 376 percent in the United Kingdom, 44 percent in Mexico, 74 percent in Canada and 24 percent in the United States, all considered to be significant markets in Emperador’s international business.

In Africa, Tres Cepas Brandy, which is under Emperador’s subsidiary in Spain, has expanded market shares in Guinea and Cameroon.

Whyte and Mackay UK, one of the world’s largest scotch whisky producers established in 1844 that became a wholly owned subsidiary of Emperador, is now the second-largest selling blended scotch brand in the entire United Kingdom.

Single malt brand Jura is currently the No.1 single malt in the United Kingdom in terms of sales volume in groceries and supermarkets. According to the group, it is also currently the fastest growing single malt brand in Sweden and The Netherlands.

In China, Whyte and Mackay’s whisky business grew by around 200 percent with sales volume through e-commerce expanding by 227 percent last year.

In 2020, Emperador Inc.’s attributable net profit rose by 18 percent to P8 billion, the highest in its history, on the back of offshore sales of whisky products. Emperador’s revenues for the full year amounted to P52.6 billion, up by 4.6 percent in 2019, when COVID-19 had yet to wreak havoc on most businesses across the globe. INQ