Tycoon Lucio L. Co’s retail holding firm Cosco Capital, Inc. and The Keepers Holdings Inc. (Keepers), the Philippines’ largest imported liquor distributor, reported strong double-digit profit growth for 2024.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Cosco reported a 25 percent hike in consolidated net income to ₱15.5 billion for 2024 versus ₱12.4 billion a year ago.
It noted that strong operating performance from major business segments lifted consolidated revenues by 10.5 percent to ₱237 billion last year from ₱214.5 billion in 2023.
“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,” Cosco Capital said.
In 2024, the group's grocery retailing businesses, Puregold Price Club, Inc. and S&R Membership Shopping Club, contributed 68 percent of total net income, followed by the Liquor Distribution with 23.5 percent, Commercial Real Estate segment with seven percent, Energy and Minerals with one percent, and Specialty Retail with 0.5 percent.
The grocery retail segment’s consolidated revenues increased to ₱219.17 billion in 2024, up 10.1 percent from ₱199 billion in 2023.
For 2024, the enterprise experienced positive same-store sales growth (SSG) of 4.5 percent from Puregold Stores and 6.4 percent from S&R Warehouse clubs driven by higher traffic and basket size.
The grocery retail group’s consolidated net income for 2024 grew by 21.3 percent year on year to ₱10.4 billion from ₱8.6 billion in 2023 driven by strong topline growth and complemented by the improvement in gross margins for the S&R business.
Keepers recorded a 21.3 percent growth in net income to ₱3.54 billion in 2024, resulting from the strong sales performance from the imported brandy segment.
Consolidated revenue amounting to ₱18.5 billion, a 13.6 percent growth versus previous year on the back of a 14 percent growth in volume of cases sold for the period. 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’s Commercial Real Estate segment posted a 5.2 percent growth in rental revenue amounting to ₱2.05 billion in 2024 as business operations of its tenants portfolio has improved due to increased level of economic activities as well as full resumption of rental rates based on contracts.
The real estate segment saw its net income grew by 20.6 percent to ₱1.13 billion in 2024 versus ₱933 million in the same period 2023.
The Energy and minerals segment posted revenues of ₱492 million in 2024 while it generated net income of ₱177 million for the same period.
For the Specialty Retailing business segment, Office Warehouse, Inc.’s revenues declined by 3.4 percent at ₱2.08 billion in 2024 versus ₱2.15 billion a year ago. Net income declined by 16.8 percent to ₱65 million in 2024 versus ₱78 million same period last year.
Meanwhile, the board of Cosco has approved a 20 percent regular dividend payout, equivalent to ₱0.264 per share, which amounts to a total of ₱1.86 billion. This regular dividend will be distributed to shareholders of record as of May 9, 2025.
In addition to the regular dividend, the Cosco board has also approved a 10 percent special dividend payout, amounting to ₱0.132 per share, for a total of ₱931 million. This special dividend will be distributed to shareholders of record as of September 4, 2025.
Together, the total dividend payout—comprising both the regular and special dividends—will amount to ₱2.79 billion, reflecting a dividend yield of 7.45 percent. These payouts will be sourced from Cosco’s unrestricted retained earnings as of December 31, 2024.
The board of Keepers has also approved a 50 percent regular dividend payout, equivalent to ₱0.12 per share, which amounts to a total of ₱1.77 billion.
This regular dividend will be distributed to shareholders of record as of May 6, 2025 and reflects a dividend yield of 4.8 percent. These payouts will be sourced from Keepers unrestricted retained earnings as of Dec. 31, 2024.