Puregold Price Club Inc. said its income in the first quarter rose 14 percent to P2.02 billion from last year’s P1.76 billion as the company was able to improve its margins despite the decline in sales due to last year’s high-base effect.
The grocery chain led by businessman Lucio Co said its consolidated net sales decreased by 8 percent to P37.73 billion in the first quarter from last year’s about P40.95 billion, due mainly due to the huge drop in visits.
“Also, it should be noted that base net sales in first quarter last year hit as high as 14 percent versus first quarter of 2019 due to the looming lockdown brought about by the pandemic,” the company said.
Consolidated net margin for the period improved to 5.4 percent.
The company said it still enjoys suppliers’ support through additional trade discounts in the form of rebates and conditional discounts granted during the period.
Some 72 percent of the revenues is came from the Puregold stores network and 28 percent from S and R Membership warehouse clubs and S and R New York Style Pizza stores.
“Despite the increasing Covid-19 cases that our country is facing, Puregold is in a good position to serve the needs of our valued customers and help fuel recovery of the country’s economy by continuing our store network expansion and introducing new innovations in grocery retailing.” Vincent Co, the company’s president, said.
As of end-March, Puregold group has a total of 479 stores nationwide. These include 413 Puregold stores, 20 S and R membership shopping warehouse and 46 S and R New York Style quick service restaurant.
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