SMC marks 3-year growth under Danding

San Miguel Corp. (SMC) will hold its annual stockholders meeting this year on May 3 and mark three years of continuous growth under the chairmanship of Eduardo M. Cojuangco Jr.

A Supreme Court ruling upholding Cojuangco’s voting rights on his 20 percent stake in San Miguel in April 1998 paved the way for his return as SMC chairman and chief executive officer.

The company registered a recurring net income of P7.51 billion in 2000, P6.02 billion in 1999 and P3.31 billion in 1998 for a 20 percent annual growth rate. Operating income, likewise, rose 20 percent yearly with P7.93 billion posed in 2000, P6.69 billion in 1999 and P4.1 billion in 1998.

This positive performance is a complete reversal from the 28 percent decline in operating income from 1996 to 1997 and the 10 percent drop from 1995 to 1996. It is also a turnaround from the 44 percent slide in net income from 1996 to 1997 and the two percent downturn from 1995 to 1996.

SMC also achieved significant gains in revenues with the milestone strategies Cojuangco has initiated. The company’s revenues grew nine percent annually in the past three years with P78.23 billion achieved in 1998, P75.62 billion in 1999 and P88.71 billion last year. For this year, SMC revenues are projected to hit the P100-billion mark.

Significantly, these financial results were achieved amid challenging economic conditions such as the Asian financial crisis and the adverse El Niño weather phenomenon that stunted the growth of other large Philippine companies.

Among Cojuangco’s initiatives that yielded excellent results were SMC’s corporate reengineering of organizations and systems, various steps to turn around the company’s international beer operations, sale of passive investments like Coca-Cola Beverages and Nestle Phils., Inc., and the successful acquisitions of Metro Bottled Water Corp., Sugarland Beverage Corp. and the Australian brewer J. Boag & Son.

Cojuangco has also launched several key programs for 2001 and onwards to ensure that SMC continues in its path of growth. These include San Miguel’s re-acquisition of Coca Bottlers Phils. Inc. (CCBPI) under a non-cash, share swap agreement that provides for full SMC management control and at a value much lower than when CCBPI was previously sold.