SIARGAO, Surigao del Norte—Epson Precision Philippines Inc. expects sales this year to grow faster than its counterpart in the region due to a strong domestic economic growth.
“We are quite bullish about this year. The past few years we’ve been blessed with good economic growth, which spurred demand for our products. So, the same thing also [for this year], it looks like the Philippines is expected to be one of the leaders in growth in terms of countries with regards to its neighbors,” Epson’s head of marketing division Ed Bonoan told reporters in a briefing here.
“The economy seems be doing well and it’s suspected to do well, we also expect that we will be able to take advantage also of the demand generated by good economic situation,” he added.
The government expects the economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, to grow 6.8 percent to 7.8 percent this year. The economy in 2015 expanded 5.9 percent.
Bonoan said Epson Philippines expects revenues to expand by double digits this year, driven by higher sales of inkjet printer and projector.
“We are doing a lot of sales with regards to inkjet and we are still expected to grow in terms of our market share, [but] I cannot share how much we will grow in terms of market share. We expect that business condition will be a good driver for growth and also our readiness in terms of competition put us really at an advantage that why we are also help propel our growth,” Bonoan said.
He added Epson planned to expand operations in Visayas and Mindanao.
“Geographically we are seeing a lot of growth in provinces, so there’s a lot of room for expansion in provinces which we are exactly we are going. We are doing a lot of ramping up for our intiatives not only the major cities but secondary cities,” he added.
Epson earlier said it expected a new plant in Batangas to start operating by 2017 to increase production of ink jet printers and projectors for the local market and exports to the US, Japan and China.
The new plant in Lipa City, which started construction last year, will increase annual capacity by 1.2 million units of inkjet printers and projectors.
Its current manufacturing plant is producing 6 million units of inkjet printers and projectors annually.
The company announced in December 2014 it would invest P4.7 billion to construct a new plant in Batangas to increase inkjet printer and 3LCD projector production volumes.
The state-of-the-art facilities are being constructed inside the existing site in Lipa, Batangas.
Epson will also install a solar power generation system with a capacity of about 3,000 kWh on the roof of the new plant.
The solar system will reduce overall daytime electricity consumption at Epson Precision Philippines by half.