Emperador Inc named among top Phl firms by FinanceAsia

MANILA, Philippines - The liquor unit of tycoon Andrew L. Tan was ranked as one of the top Philippine companies by FinanceAsia, Asia’s leading financial publishing company.

Emperador Inc. ranked high in FinanceAsia’s 14th annual Best Companies’ poll results in two categories: “Best Corporate Governance” and “Most Committed to a Strong Dividend Policy,” besting other Philippine companies.

Emperador is both the best liquor company in the Philippines and also strongest liquor brand in the country.

“We have a very dominant position nationwide, particularly in Metro Manila, where seven out of 10 liquor bottles sold are Emperador,” said Dominador Hidalgo, assistant vice-president of sales for Emperador.

Emperador also recorded robust growth in the southern islands of Visayas and Mindanao. It sold a total of 33 million cases last year to maintain its position as the world’s largest selling brandy brand.

“We are very excited about our continued growth in the first few months of this year,” Hidalgo said.

“We are also setting our sights abroad, where we target to own 33 percent of the world’s brandy market within four years,” he added.

Emperador committed to invest P5.8 billion in Spain as part of plans to become a significant global brand.

The liquor unit Tan’s investment holding firm Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI) posted a net income of P5.8 billion last year, up 17.4 percent from P5 billion in 2012 on the back of higher revenues.

Aside from beverage, AGI is also into property (Megaworld Group), fastfood (McDonald’s franchise operator Golden Arches Development Corp.) and hotels and casino (Travellers International Hotel Group Inc.).