Splash Corporation plans to expand product line

Splash Corporation plans to acquire more product choices in the next few years to boost its position in the Philippine market as well as overseas.

Splash Corporation chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Rolando B. Hortaleza announced that the company is now talking with two entities that produce personal care and health and wellness products. However, nothing final has yet been decided as negotiations are still in progress.

Hortaleza said the brand acquisition strategy of the company is pursued in order to strengthen its foothold in the Philippine market, as well as boosting the platform for the company’s branding effort to effectively enter the international market.

In the next few months, Hortaleza said Splash may be able to announce the acquisition details, but for now, the identities of these two big personal care and health and wellness entities are still not to be revealed.

According to Hortaleza, there is a need for the company to expand its product choices, especially in the personal care category, as it is planning to grab the market share dominance of multinational companies’ brands in the Philippine market.

The P2.5 billion that is expected to be raised in the IPO will be used largely in boosting the brand and research and development efforts of Splash, in order to compete very closely with Unilever, Procter and Gamble (P&G) in the personal care category.

In the skin care sub-category, Splash was able to make it in the number one level, with its flagship products in the skin whitening segment.

Overall, in the personal care market, Splash is competing against local and international personal care makers.

According to Hortaleza, aside from brand acquisition, the company is also poised to increase its market penetration across the country, expanding the retail distributorships of all Splash products.

At present, the company has over 1,000 direct distributors, distributing to over 26,000 retail outlets all over the Philippines.

Splash, which is the maker of several personal care brands such as Skinwhite, Maxi-Peel, BioLink Green Papaya, Extraderm, among others, is the first Filipino-owned personal care company to go public.

Aside from skin whitening and other personal care items, the company also has under its name baby personal care products starting off with the Splash’s Baby Spa brand.

Established in 1985, Splash has grown from a P12,000 backyard business into a P4 billion enterprise that has established market presence in more than 20 countries in Asia, Middle East, and North America. —Ehda M. Dagooc