San Miguel Pure Foods hikes ‘03 income by 15% to P794M

San Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc., the food processing arm of San Miguel Corp., posted a net income of P794 million last year or an increase of 15 percent from the previous year’s P691 million, driven primarily by higher sales.

In a statement issued yesterday, SMPFC said it exceeded the P36-billion mark in sales revenues, representing a 16 percent growth or almost a P5 billion increase from the 2002 figure.

The consolidation of the Magnolia line into SMPFC in June 2003 also boosted the company’s overall performance as it effectively added dairy and desserts to the firm’s growing product lines.

Income from operations of SMPFC’s different food units went up by 16 percent to P1.9 billion despite the weaker peso, higher raw material costs, and intense competition.

SMPFC’s poultry business made an impressive turnaround, ending the year with positive operating profits of P135 million. "Timely management of supply coupled with improvements in growing efficiencies contributed to this growth," SMPFC said.

On the processed meats segment, Purefoods-Hormel sustained its strong performance with its tonnage and peso sales growing by 18 percent as against the previous year. The company launched a total of 17 new products in the market last year.

Despite the fluctuating demand for flour during the first half of 2003, SMPFC’s flour business turned in a notable performance with 12-percent and 22-percent growth in volume and revenues, respectively.

SMPFC is confident that 2004 will be a better year for the company as it expands to Southeast Asia for future growth. "Long-term prospects of the company remain bright especially with the thrust to expand to Southeast Asia and China, move into higher value-added branded segments and transform its commodity business into globally competitive enterprises. SMPFC aims to become an active player in the region in support of its aggressive growth objectives," SMPFC said.

SMPFC is looking at business opportunities in the processed meats, and other branded foods in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan and Australia.