RFM Corporation president and CEO Jose Ma. A. Concepcion III continues to acquire more shares of the food and beverage firm, this time buying P114 million worth of stocks from the weak market.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the firm said Concepcion picked up 30 million RFM shares at P3.80 per share on Jan. 14, 2025, through his Triple Eight Holdings Inc.
Concepcion now owns 837.58 million RFM shares (both direct and indirect ownership) equivalent to 24.86 percent of the company’s 3.37 billion outstanding shares after his latest purchase equivalent to 0.89 percent.
In a show of confidence in RFM, Concepcion has been slowly adding to his shareholdings in the company even as he projects that the firm will sustain this year its strong 2024 performance.
Based on six disclosures to the PSE from Nov. 27 to Dec. 23, 2024, Concepcion has personally accumulated 21.07 million RFM common shares worth P79.66 million and equivalent to 0.60 percent of the company’s outstanding stock.
Just last week, RFM declared cash dividends amounting to P200 million as it expects to sustain last year’s net income growth to about P1.4 billion to P1.5 billion.
The firm reported that its board of directors has approved a cash dividend of P0.05936 per share payable on Feb. 18, 2025, with record date as of Jan. 22, 2025.
RFM said the declared cash dividend will come from its unrestricted retained earnings as of Dec. 31, 2024 and is one of the tranches to pay out the company's yearly cash dividend policy based on recurring net income.
In 2023, RFM made P1.27 billion in net income from P20.7 billion revenues.
Concepcion, who has also been buying shares in the market in 2024, said that RFM sees a better 2024 full year performance from its branded consumer and institutional businesses in both sales and income.
Noting preliminary and unaudited figures, RFM said 2024 total revenues are on track to hit P22 billion, up 6.4 percent from the P20.68 billion generated in 2023.
It added that net income is trending to grow double digit to the P1.4 billion to P1.5 billion range, up to 18 percent higher than the P1.27 billion earned in 2023.
For 2025, Concepcion expects to sustain the strong performance of RFM’s brands and businesses with input price inflation within reasonable levels so far.
He also noted the strong underlying consumer demand for RFM’s Fiesta and Royal pasta products that buoyed 2024 sales on top of the purchases of local government units for their Christmas baskets for constituents.
RFM declared a total of P1.3 billion in cash dividends in 2024, up from P850 million in 2023. At the share price of P3.87 at end 2024, RFM’s 2024 dividend yield is 10 percent.
“RFM has no debts and has a strong balance sheet that enable our steady declaration of cash dividends. We have also completed some big capex in 2024 like the new Silang, Cavite bakery plant and new Selecta Milk lines and will just be on the lookout for opportunities to grow our businesses. Nevertheless, our pipeline of new products is quite packed for our ice cream, pasta and milk brands which will ensure organic growth for RFM in the near term,” said Concepcion.