Tanduay turns around with P454-M income in 9 mos

Tanduay Holdings Inc., the hard liquor unit of tycoon Lucio Tan, reported a net income of P454.31 million in the nine months ending September this year, a reversal of the P7.7-million loss incurred during the same period a year ago.

The company attributed the substantial income growth to the 41 percent decline in operating expenses and higher sales.

Sales increased 26.8 percent to P7.1 billion, mainly due to the strong performance of Tanduay Distillers Inc. (TDI) which chipped in P379 million to net income.

TDI posted a net profit of P379 million during the period under review, 59 percent higher than the previous level, on the back of a 23 percent jump in revenues.

From P5.6 billion a year earlier, TDI’s revenues climbed to P6.9 billion, helped by a 19 percent growth in sales volume due to the improved performance in Southern Philippines as well as aggressive advertising and promotional campaigns and a price hike.

The opening of a new production facility in Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental has also boosted TDI’s profitability as this has made its products more accessible and readily available in the Mindanao region.

The CDO plant is currently serving 50 percent of the region’s requirements.

TDI raised its prices by an average of seven percent in July 2008.

TDI’s gross profit rate, however, fell two percent due to increase in cost of packaging materials and higher manufacturing overhead on account of higher fuel operating costs.

TDI’s real estate arm Unimark Investments Inc., on the other hand, chalked in a net income of P33 million, down 87 percent from last year’s level of P250 million due to the drop in sales by 89 percent as there were no new acquisitions of real and other properties owned and acquired (ROPA) and non-performing loans (NPL).