VMC attempts stock market comeback

MANILA, Philippines - Sugar miller Victorias Milling Co. (VMC) Inc. is targeting to wipe out its deficit by the end of its fiscal year ending August 2011 as it aims to make a comeback in the stock market.

In an interview with reporters following the company’s annual stockholders meeting yesterday, VMC chairman Omar Byron T. Mier said the continued high prices of sugar and the sale of its non-core businesses will allow the firm to eliminate its deficit, which stood at P1.92 billion as of November last year.

In October last year, the company asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to lift the trading suspension on its shares to give VMC flexibility to raise capital.

Trading in shares of VMC was suspended since Oct. 9, 1997 after the sugar milling firm filed for rehabilition due to its tight liquidity problems resulting from a failed attempt to diversify into other businesses.

A management committee appointed by the SEC took over management control of VMC and as a result of the 15-year Alternative Rehabilitation Plan (ARP) drawn up by creditor banks and upheld by the SEC and the Court of Appeals, the sugar miller went through a quasi-reorganization as well as a conversion of debt to equity with bank creditors comprising 69.5 percent of the company’s common stockholders.

VMC, which accounts for a tenth of total raw sugar production in the country and about a third of refined sugar output, has recorded three consecutive years of profitability since 2007.

The firm had a total capital deficiency of P147.31 million as of November 2010. Total assets, on the other hand, amounted to P8.14 billion.

In the first quarter of its fiscal year (September to October 2010), VMC posted a net profit of P53.16 million on revenues of P695.47 million.

Mier said the company remains in talks with prospective buyers for non-core assets like Victorias Foods Corp. and is hopeful that a deal will finally be concluded within the year.

Among its other subsidiaries include Victorias Agricultural Land Corp., Victorias Gas Corp., Canetown Development and Victorias Gold & Country Club.