Alliance Select, Japan firm tie up for new General Santos food facility

MANILA, Philippines - Alliance Select Foods International Inc. is expected to sign in the third quarter its partnership agreement with Kawasho Foods Corp. for a new food facility within the premises of its plant in General Santos City.

Alliance select president Raymond See said the new product line facility would diversify Alliance Select’s product offerings, enabling the distribution of its quality seafood products in convenient and accessible pouches.

The partnership is also expected to widen the company’s customer base and ramp up marketing activities in Japan in an effort to increase its market share and presence in the East Asian market.

Kawasho Foods is a consumer goods company with well entrenched distribution channels in Japan, including department stores, supermarkets and convenience stores.

 Established in 2004, Kawasho is based in Tokyo and has additional offices worldwide.

The company is also embarking on an equity restructuring program to wipe out its current deficit and improve its balance sheet as it becomes more profitable.

Alliance Select said the company’s par value would be halved from P1 to P0.50, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals.

At the same time, Alliance Select said the equity restructuring would not reduce the number of outstanding shares and change a stockholder’s ownership interest.

The company incurred a net loss of $8 million in 2015 and a net loss of $5.9 million in 2016 but the company assured that its new management under See has  aggressively implemented cost efficiency initiatives and has been improving operations to achieve financial stability and  improve business this year.