Century Pacific Food, Inc. posted a 24 percent growth in net income to P3.9 billion last year as consolidated revenues improved by 19 percent to P48.3 billion as sales rose when more people ate at home because of COVID-19.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, CNPF cited the outperformance of its branded business which saw sales increase by 25 percent from 2019. This business represented 81 percent of total revenues.

The balance of 19percent of sales is accounted for by its commodity-linked OEM export business, which saw revenues decline 1 percent year-on-year as a result of softer commodity prices, reallocation of capacity to domestic requirements, and a stronger peso.

“We saw robust demand for our branded products all throughout 2020 – beginning with a strong pre-COVID 19 performance, followed by pandemic-related demand spikes, then sustained growth to wrap up the year due largely to the essentials and staples nature of our portfolio,” said CNPF Executive Chairman Christopher Po.

He added that, “Amidst (sic) the uncertainties of 2020, our strong position allowed us to focus primarily on the future - improving our digital capabilities, increasing capacities across our value chain, and building up a robust pipeline of innovative and new products. Over the next 12 to 18 months, we look forward to releasing these to market.”

CNPF has previously disclosed a double-digit topline and bottomline growth target for 2021, despite a high 2020 base and continued uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic.

The growth target is due largely to resilient demand for the Company’s core branded products, recovery in its OEM export business, and increased contribution from new products and emerging categories.

Po said “We are looking at refrigerated food as another platform for growth,” noting that it is a “completely different food segment which is growing and will have synergies with the shelf-stable part of our portfolio.”