Century Pacific Food net income up 7% in 3rd quarter

MANILA, Philippines — Century Pacific Food Inc. (CNPF), the Po-family led canned food company and exporter of tuna and coconut products, recorded a seven percent increase in net income in the third quarter to P797.9 million from P743.7 million a year ago, while nine month income grew nine percent to P2.4 billion from P2.2 billion a year ago.

Consolidated revenues increased 17 percent during the nine-month period on the back of sustained  branded sales growth.

The company raked in revenues of P29.5 billion, with the branded business accounting for 75 percent of total sales.

Oscar Pobre, CNPF’s chief finance officer, said the branded business continues to perform well.

“Amidst the more challenging environment, branded continues to show very healthy growth. This remains driven by higher volumes – a trend we’ve been seeing for a number of quarters now,” Pobre said.

Branded sales stood at P22 billion for the nine-month period ending September, 22 percent higher versus the same period last year. The third quarter alone saw branded revenues at P7.6 billion.

Pobre said the company implemented improvements in distribution.

“We think the consistency in our branded  revenue growth reflects both the nature of our products as consumer staples, as well as the  strong loyalty to our brands. The broad based increase in sales, seen across both core and emerging categories, will hopefully sustain our growth pipeline for the foreseeable future,” Pobre said.

In terms of profitability, the company’s gross margin stood at 25.9 percent as of end- September, flattish relative to the year before. This led to an increase in gross profit of 18 percent versus last year.

However, margins were pressured sequentially as key raw materials, packaging, and financing costs rose on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

“As expected, we saw margin compression this third quarter relative to the first half of 2018.  However, profitability metrics continue to remain stable on a year-on-year basis, despite the rising costs that most Philippine companies are currently facing,” Pobre said.

Moving forward, he said the company would continue to invest in the business as part of a long term strategy to deliver  consistent earnings growth.

“This is also an indication that we remain positive on the Philippines and the Filipino consumer, and look forward to further taking advantage of increases in consumption,” Pobre said.

CNPF is behind a roster of household names which include Century Tuna, Argentina, 555, Angel, and Birch Tree.  The company is also a leading exporter of OEM tuna and coconut products in the Philippines.