By James A. Loyola
Food and beverage company RFM Corporation reported a 10 percent improvement in net income to ₱836 million in the first nine months of the year on the back of a similar 10 percent hike in revenues to ₱10.8 billion.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, RFM President and CEO Jose Ma. A. Concepcion III said that the company’s institutional bread and flour units as well as consumer units comprising of milk, ice cream, pasta and sauces led the double-digit topline growth.
Concepcion noted that even as the company’s institutional sales have posted strong growth, he noted the surge in milk sales which continues to lead the topline expansion of branded products along with ice cream and pasta.
He also disclosed that the Board of Directors approved additional capital expenditure (capex) of ₱220 million to expand institutional and consumer brand production capacities.
This is on top of the previously reported ₱400-million capex approved a couple of months ago to expand the sauce and milk businesses.
“RFM is quite bullish in its brands and businesses. We will continue to deploy the required funding to meet the growth in demand for our brands. To this end, we have a very strong cash position to back our capex,” said Concepcion.
He added that “aside from the 50 percent cash payout policy and ongoing share buyback, we want our new capex to hasten the improvement of the returns to our shareholders over the long run.”