RFM income up 47% to P440.6M in 9 mos

MANILA, Philippines - Food and beverage firm RFM Corp. said it grew its net income 47 percent to P440.6 million in the first nine months this year on strong showing of all its brands and lower costs of raw materials.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, RFM said sales expanded 13 percent to P7.85 billion.

RFM president and chief executive officer Jose A. Concepcion III attributed the company’s improved income performance to the faster growth of its higher margin businesses as well as reduced input costs of milk and sugar.

“We are likewise benefitting from better yields and costings due to scale economies as we reach higher volumes in our key brands, such as Selecta ice cream and Fiesta spaghetti,“ he said.

Concepcion added that the positive economic climate is encouraging further consumer confidence and spending, which are expected to improve further this last quarter of the year.

 “As we see another Christmas season prior to an election year, we sense there is more generosity in the air. This will lead to continued growth practically in all the company’s brands, led by Selecta ice cream, White King Fiesta pasta, Selecta milk and Sunkist juice,” he noted.

Selecta’s newly launched Magnum, (Belgian chocolate ice cream on stick, continued its strong momentum since its introduction in March. Magnum is expected to increase its share to total Selecta sales mix as consumer acceptance widens to a broader market profile, not limited to the youth segment. 

As a dominant market leader with 74 percent market share, Selecta has continued to grow the entire ice cream category with affordable yet exciting innovations, such as the Cornetto disc, Selecta Overload, Selecta Classics, and the Hersheys collection.

RFM’s White King Fiesta division, which includes its fast-growing pasta business, has also been performing very well, expanding its spaghetti pasta market leadership position to 31.4 percent from 25 percent last year.  In key accounts, Fiesta posted an even larger market share of over 38 percent.