More stores, higher sales buoyed Cosco in Q1
Sustained consumer spending despite prevailing macroeconomic challenges lifted the first-quarter earnings of billionaire Lucio Co’s listed holding company by 10.4 percent.
In a stock exchange filing on Friday, Cosco Capital Inc. said its net income grew to P3.4 billion in the January to March period, from P3.1 billion in the same period last year.
Revenues likewise expanded by 7.1 percent to P50.9 billion as its business segments benefited from strong consumer demand.
The group’s grocery retailing business via Puregold Price Club Inc. and S&R Membership Shopping Club accounted for 72 percent of total profit for the quarter.
The liquor distribution segment under The Keepers Holdings Inc. contributed 18 percent; commercial real estate segment led by Ellimac Prime Holdings Inc., 7 percent; energy and minerals through Alcorn Petroleum and Minerals Corp., 2 percent; and specialty retail via Office Warehouse Inc., one percent.
With “revenge spending” peaking in the first three months of the year, Cosco said the grocery segment’s consolidated net sales rose by 6.7 percent to P47.3 billion.
Aggressive store expansion of Puregold slightly tapered the growth in net income, which improved by 3 percent to P2.5 billion.
“The company continues to see a buoyant trajectory in top-line growth for the year 2024,” Cosco said in its disclosure.
Meanwhile, The Keepers recorded a top-line growth of 16 percent to P3.36 billion as volumes increased.
The segment’s bottom line surged by 44 percent to P604 million, driven by strong sales of Alfonso, its brandy product.
