D&L earnings rise  31% to P2.6 billion in 2021

MANILA, Philippines — D&L Industries Inc., the listed food ingredients and chemicals manufacturer, said it is now back to pre-COVID-19 levels.

The company reported a net income of P2.6 billion last year, up 31 percent from 2020,  driven mainly by increased economic activity as well as the robust performance of the company’s export business.

The fourth quarter, however, saw a decline in D&L’s earnings, ending consecutive quarters of earnings growth. Net profit  for the period fell 25 percent year-on-year to P480 million.

Full-year sales grew  by 42 percent to P30.9 billion.

“Our business faced incredible challenges during the pandemic. Now emerging two years later on a better footing both operationally and financially, with our earnings already back to pre-COVID levels, we feel that the company has not only proven but also strengthened its resilience,” D&L president and CEO Alvin Lao said.

The company is cautiously optimistic with the view that the Philippines is likely seeing the tailend of the pandemic.

“We remain focused on our core competencies, ready to ride another wave of volatility brought about by recent geopolitical uncertainties. While Russia and Ukraine are not a significant part of our supplier or customer base, the ongoing conflict poses a threat to global recovery and has sent prices of key commodities skyrocketing over a short span of time,” Lao said.

He  said that while 2022 wouldn’t be without difficulties, the company would continue to pursue areas of opportunities that will bring the next leg of growth for the company.

“With coconut oil continuing to gain traction globally as a natural and sustainable substitute to many petroleum-based raw materials, we plan to further capitalize on this by entering more export markets and by using our R&D expertise to introduce more highly specialized, coconut-oil based products. In addition, our Batangas expansion is expected to come online in January 2023 which will be a key milestone in boosting our export sales further,” Lao said.

D&L has made a few additions and upgrades to the original plan  for the Batangas expansion, which resulted in an increase in budgeted capex to P9.1 billion from P8 billion.

As D&L already began the construction of the new plant even before the pandemic started, there was minimal impact from price increases. As of end-December last year, the company spent around P6.2 billion for the project.