San Miguel’s net income surges 31% to P23.2B

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. grew its nine-month net profit by 31 percent year-on-year to P23.2 billion on higher revenues from both traditional food and beverage as well as new businesses.

Consolidated revenues from January to September were up 10 percent year-on-year to P599 billion as a 12-percent growth in new businesses complemented a 5-percent growth in the traditional units.

Operating income rose 2 percent to P46.7 billion in the first nine months, attributed to improvements in the new businesses as well as those of San Miguel Pure Foods and Ginebra San Miguel Inc., thereby making up for the slump in the third-quarter performance of oil refining and distribution unit Petron Corp., which had to weather volatility in crude oil prices.

Recurring cash flow as measured by consolidated recurring earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization improved by 8 percent year-on-year to P67.2 billion.

“We were able to build on the gains we made in the first semester. While adverse oil and fuel prices had an impact on Petron, we were able to ride out much of the volatility. This goes to show that our current portfolio of businesses is largely resilient to external stresses that could otherwise greatly impact our financial result,” SMC president Ramon S. Ang said in a statement.

San Miguel Brewery grew consolidated revenues by 5 percent to P56.3 billion while operating income amounted to P15.3 billion, backed by a 3-percent growth in sales volume to 153 million cases.

Ginebra San Miguel’s revenues rose 7 percent to P10.6 billion, resulting in an operating income of P124 million or a turnaround from a loss of nearly a billion pesos year-on-year, as sales volume rose 2 percent to 15 million cases.

San Miguel Pure Foods grew revenues by 4 percent to P74.4 billion, led by agro-industrial, flour-milling and dairy businesses, resulting in an 18-percent growth in operating income to P4.3 billion despite the adverse effects of typhoon “Glenda” and the Manila port congestion.

San Miguel Yamamura Packaging Corp. reported flat revenues at P17.3 billion but operating income improved by 6 percent to P1.6 billion, on improved efficiencies and lower fixed costs.

For new businesses, Petron’s operating income declined by 27 percent year-on-year to P6.9 billion in the first nine months, attributed to a sharp drop in the benchmark Dubai crude oil in the third quarter that in turn resulted in high-priced inventories being sold at much lower prices.