D&L Industries’ the country’s largest specialty foods ingredients, plastics and oleochemicals firm, continues to make a strong recovery and expects earnings this year to surpass profits in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the global economy.

In a media briefing, D&L President and CEO Alvin D. Lao said net income in the first quarter of 2021 jumped 21 percent to P695 million with all business segments posting significant double-digit growth.

He noted that “first quarter 2021 consolidated income is tracking ahead of 2019 income, albeit still slightly behind 2018 income.”

“It’s been a year into the pandemic and we find ourselves back into another round of Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) for two weeks and Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) after,” Lao said.

He added that, “While the business environment continues to be less than ideal, we also find ourselves, as well as many of our customers, in a much better position operationally to navigate the current situation with minimal business disruption.”

“Unlike the ECQ/MECQ in 2020, this year’s ECQ/MECQ is much less restrictive… With the government’s stance to protect public health and with the gradual rolling out of vaccines, we believe that the same trend would likely be observed in the succeeding quarters,” Lao said. 

He pointed out that, ”Notwithstanding an apparent hiccup in the road to recovery, we believe that medium- to long-term business prospects are still intact. Our products generally serve basic industries. From our past experience, after every crisis, when recovery starts, we usually start seeing good growth in the businesses we are in.”

With more than a year into the pandemic, D&L, as well as many of its customers, has found new ways to continuously operate despite various mobility restrictions.

In addition, lower income taxes due to the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act also boosted the company’s bottomline for the quarter by P32 million and is estimated to add P120 million for the entire year. 

Lao said D&L’s export sales continued its positive momentum in as it surged 84 percent in the first quarter of 2021. Export contribution to total revenues reached a record high of 34 percent during the period. 

Coconut-based products under food and oleochemicals were the main drivers behind the robust export growth. Coconut oil continues to gain traction in the global market due to its perceived natural antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties.

Meanwhile, D&L announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Franco Diego Lao as the company’s new Chief Financial Officer, replacing Amorsolo Rosario who has retired after more than a decade with the company.

Lao has 21 years of experience with the company. He started his career with D&L as a Product Representative for Oleofats, Inc. and moved up the ladder until he was appointed as the Group Supply Chain Director for D&L Industries in 2017.