The Philippines’ second largest retailer, Puregold Price Club Inc, announced that it will open 25 new outlets as part of its expansion plan. It will use proceeds of its recently concluded PHP 4.69 billion (USD 90 million) share offering to fund the construction of its new stores.
This will be the same number of stores Puregold has targeted to open last year. By the end of September 2017, the company had a total of 352 stores nationwide — comprised of 291 Puregold stores, 13 S&R membership shopping warehouses, 31 S&R New York Style quick service restaurants, nine NE Bodega Supermarkets, and eight Budgetlane Supermarkets.
Consumer-related companies such as Puregold are expected to directly benefit from the tax reform program as working Filipinos have more money now to spend. The first package of the of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion program took effect on January 1. The Department of Finance said the new law will allow employees to pocket higher take home pay, starting with those earning lower than PHP 250,000 (USD 4,800) annually who will now be exempted from personal taxes.
(Sources: Manila Standard; BusinessWorld)
