Vitarich profit surges to P276.9 million in H1

MANILA, Philippines — Vitarich Corp., one of the country’s pioneers in poultry and feed manufacturing, reported a record high net income in the first half of the year amounting to P276.9 million, driven by higher customer demand and increased pricing.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Vitarich said its net income in the six months was 24 times higher than the P11.6 million recorded in the same period last year.

“The historic performance was fueled by growing customer demand and increased pricing along with lower costs of raw materials and more efficient production from higher plant capacity utilization,” the company said.

Vitarich said revenues grew to P4.4 billion, up from P3.8 billion in the same period a year ago as all its product segments posted increases.

The company’s feeds segment, which accounted for 48 percent of the total revenues, grew three percent to P2.1 billion as a result of new commercial client wins, and stronger order intake from distributors driven by new entrants in large poultry farms and end-customers switching to its products.

The feeds segment manufactures and distributes animal feeds, health and nutritional products and supplements to various distributors, dealers, and end users nationwide.

Meanwhile, the company’s foods segment, which accounted for 44 percent of total revenues, recorded a 26 percent increase to P1.9 billion due to a combination of broad-based volume growth following the easing of lockdown restrictions, and higher prices.

The foods segment grows, produces, and distributes chicken broilers, which are sold to hotels, restaurants, institutional clients, supermarkets, and wet markets.

The company’s farms segment, which accounted for the remaining eight percent of revenues, grew 43 percent to P340.6 million on better volume and prices from sale of day-old chicks.

Operating income climbed to P382 million, up by almost nine-fold from a year ago. Vitarich said this reflects the company’s multi-year plan to scale up and improve efficiency, with operating expenses represent six percent of total revenues.

“In the five years since our turnaround and corporate rehabilitation exit in 2016, Vitarich has consistently restored profitability, while investing in manufacturing facilities, and research and technology development,”said Vitarich CEO Rocco Sarmiento.

Sarmiento said the company has secured internationally recognized management systems for food safety and quality, such as ISO Food Safety and Management Systems (FSMS) and recently achieved Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point certification, which has positioned the business to support growth and transformation.

“Today, our record-high performance, long-term demand expectation, and strengthened balance sheet with reduced debt give us increased confidence in our mid-term outlook of progressive margin expansion,”Sarmiento said.

For this year, the company expects to spend P330 million.