Calata earns 18% more in 2015

MANILA, Philippines - Calata Corp., the listed distributor of agricultural products such as feeds and fertilizers, reported a net income of P154.040 million last year, 18 percent more than the P130.263 million posted in 2014.

This is on the back of higher revenues of P2.257 billion last year, which rose 33 percent from P1.702 billion in 2014.

“These are the highest revenues and profit that the company has earned so far in the history of its operations,” Calata said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) yesterday.

Gross profit rose 33 percent to P384.42 million last year from P288.70 million in 2014, which the company attributed to continuous increase in sales in high margin products.

The company posted revenue growth on all four business segments of Calata Corp. such as distribution, retail, farming and meat.

Earnings per share further improved by 18.75 percent, while gross profit margins remain steady at 17 percent, consistent with previous years.

Officials attributed the constant increase in sales to Calata’s successful continued expanded market penetration of the distribution business.

The company owned AGRI retail stores has been effective gateways to new markets in Luzon, and now also in Visayas and Mindanao, it said.

“Because of this, the distribution business significantly expanded its operations in Luzon, extending to the northern provinces like Ilocos, Isabela and Aurora, among others, and to the southern-most provinces like Batangas, Quezon and the Bicol region,” the company said in its disclosure.

Calata now has operations in Visayas and Mindanao which are expected to duplicate, if not surpass operations in Luzon as the company sees great potential for the distribution business of agricultural products in these underserved areas.

Last year, the company has already been directly operating its hog farms and marketing its produce, completely shifting from its previous farming operations based on contractual service agreements.

In all, the company noted strong growth despite the poor performance of the agricultural sector last year.