D&L earnings up 8% in Q4

MANILA, Philippines — D&L Industries Inc., the specialty foods ingredients and chemicals company, posted an eight percent increase in net income in the fourth quarter of 2020 to P637 million.

However, net income for the full year of 2020 was down by 23 percent to P2 billion.

D&L president Alvin Lao also noted the higher income for the second half of the year to P1.2 billion, up 51 percent from the first half.

Lao said 2020 was definitely a challenging year for the company.

“But at the same time, these extraordinary conditions further built our resilience and strengthened our conviction in our long-term strategies,” he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the highly relevant nature of D&L’s businesses’ catering to basic industries, as well as the company’s operational adeptness, he said.

“In the final quarter of 2020, we managed to surpass pre-COVID performance, with our net income growing eight percent year-on-year. This accompanied the gradual opening of the economy and inspires confidence as it shows that earnings growth is gradually coming back,” Lao said.

D&L is a listed company whose principal business activities include manufacturing of customized food ingredients, specialty raw materials for plastics, and oleochemicals for personal and home care use.

Lao expects 2021 results to be better than last year.

The company is pushing forward with the expansion of its manufacturing facility in Batangas, with construction currently in full swing. D&L already spent P2 billion for the facility.

“The said expansion facility will mainly cater to D&L’s growing export businesses in the food and oleochemicals segments. It will add the capability to manufacture downstream packaging, thus allowing the company to capture a bigger part of the production chain,” Lao said.

D&L’s Batangas expansion will be instrumental to the company’s future growth as it plans to develop more high value-added coconut-based products and penetrate new international markets.