Tanduay Holdings, the company which owns the Philippines spirits producer, Tanduay Distillers Inc., has reported consolidated net income for 2002 of PHP436m, up 3.5% from PHP421m in 2001.

The company said that profits from its spirits subsidiary had declined. Revenues at Tanduay Distillers fell by 1.8%, the holding company said, from PHP5.5 billion to PHP5.4 billion.

However, Tanduay said that it was planning further expansion of its spirits brands in the South-East Asian region.

“The company is positioning itself towards the ASEAN market notwithstanding the threats of the Middle East conflict and the SARS virus,” the company said. “The company plans to add more brands to those currently covered under our distributorship arrangement in Thailand which we entered in the third quarter of 2002. It is also about to finalise a bottling agreement with another liquor seller in Thailand. These ventures should serve as our gateway to the Asian market.”