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MANILA – The liquor company of Philippine billionaire Andrew Tan expects its international business to account for nearly a third of earnings by 2017.

On the sidelines of the company’s stockholders meeting on Monday, Emperador Inc president Winston Co told reporters its operations in Spain and the United Kingdom will start contributing to net profit in the last quarter of 2014 and the full impact will be seen next year.

“With all the synergies and integration with Spanish and UK operations, we believe we can fast track our company’s growth in the Philippines,” Co said.

The liquor firm’s record profit of P5.8 billion last year was predominantly generated from its domestic operation. Emperador sees its net income would double from 2013 in the next three years with its strategic investments in Spain and the UK.

So far, Emperador has invested a total of P5.8 billion in technologically advanced vineyards, distilleries and bodegas in Spain.

The Philippine company marked its foray into the whisky segment when it entered into a deal with a subsidiary of United Spirits Limited for the acquisition of a 100 percent of Whyte Mackay Group Limited and its subsidiaries for an all-cash offer based at an enterprise value of £430 million.

“When you look at global landscape, there are five traditional products – vodka, gin, rum, brandy and whisky. There is no whisky in the Philippines yet. We think that whisky is a space that our company can develop. We want to develop a whisky culture in the Philippines,” Co said.

With its first-mover advantage, Emperador expects to dominate the whisky segment, similar to the way it has controlled the brandy segment, he added.

“I am very excited about Whyte and Mackay and the opportunities that it opens up for Emperador. It is the fifth largest Scotch whisky company in the world, selling its products in 50 countries worldwide including the UK, the rest of Europe and Asia. We can develop and sell Emperador brandy to some of these foreign markets. There’s also opportunity to bring in Whyte and Mackay’s globally recognized brands to the Philippines and the Asian region,” Tan said.

Emperador is still studying the drinking demographics in the Philippines, but it is positioning its whisky product for the middle-income segment priced between P150 to P300 per bottle. It eyes to bring products under Whyte Mackay in the market by next year.

“We want to develop a whisky culture in the Philippines…We believe that eventually we will own the brandy and the whisky segments,” Co said.

The Filipino company sees continued growth in the brandy segment, increasing its market share to 60 percent from 50 percent in the next three years as the company continues to eat the share of other liquor companies.

“We’re growing in the Visayas. Last year, the market contracted because of the implementation of new excise law. In that contracting business environment, we grew,” Co said.

Last year, the company embarked on a five-year plan to double sales volume and corner a third of the world market in five years.

Emperador sold 33 million cases last year to remain the world’s largest selling brandy brand and the largest liquor company in the Philippines. Emperador Brandy comprises seven out of 10 liquor bottles sold in Manila, the company said.