Cosco’s 9-month profit hits P9.1B

MANILA  -Tycoon Lucio Co’s listed supermarket and liquor holding company Cosco Capital hiked profits by nearly 5 percent during the first nine months of the year while hinting at plans to diversify into renewable energy as a new growth avenue.

The company, which owns Puregold Price Club and liquor firm The Keepers Holdings, said on Friday that plans to invest in renewable energy “will align Cosco with the government’s thrust in renewable energy and contribute to the economic development of our country”.

“Cosco Capital Inc. is looking at its entry in the renewable energy business as another opportunity segment to expand and become a profitable business portfolio in the medium and long-term,” Leonardo Dayao, president of Cosco Capital, said in a statement.

The holding company did not provide other details on the planned venture.

Cosco Capital closed the nine-month period with a net income of P9.1 billion, up 4.8 percent versus the same period last year, as total revenues expanded by 10.5 percent to P150.3 billion.

“The group continued to benefit from the economic recovery amidst the prevailing macroeconomic challenges by way of sustained and stronger revenue growth across all its business segments which indicates the recovering consumer demand,” the company said in the statement.

Puregold and S&R Membership stores contributed 72 percent of total profits from January to September this year.

READ: Lucio Co’s Puregold buys DiviMart

Grocery retail profits rose 2.1 percent during the nine-month period to P6.6 billion—a modest increase that was the result of “compressed margins and higher operating expenses”.

Gocery retailing segment’s consolidated net sales for the first nine months of 2023 rose by 9 percent to P139 billion, the statement showed.

The Keepers holdings closed the period with a net income of P1.8 billion, up 13 percent, while total revenues jumped 14 percent to P10.2 billion.

“This was driven principally by Alfonso, the leading imported brandy in the market, which has already surpassed its pre pandemic levels, premiumizing market and on-premise channel rebound,” Cosco said.

The commercial real estate segment posted a 7.8 percent growth in rental revenues to P1.4 billion while net income increased by 7.7 percent to P672 million during the period.