SAN MIGUEL PUREFOODS CO. INC., THE food unit of the San Miguel group, plans to raise about P5 billion from the sale of new shares either through a public offering, private placement or a combination of the two.

Shareholders of SMPFC, in their annual meeting on Friday, approved the issuance of 75 million new common shares to parent company San Miguel Corp. and other groups. US investment bank JP Morgan was mandated to handle the planned relaunch of SMPFC?s shares.

SMPFC president Francisco Alejo told reporters at the sidelines of the stockholders? meeting that the sale of the shares would be done as soon as possible, hopefully before the elections in May. The relaunch will also widen the company?s public float, currently at a measly 0.1 percent, to meet the 10-percent minimum listing requirement of the Philippine Stock Exchange.

?Proceeds will be used to pay debt, including the acquisition of the Vietnam business and the intellectual rights,? Alejo said.

The hog farming and feed milling business in Vietnam is the only overseas food venture that is not yet folded into SMPFC. The company is thus buying this business from parent San Miguel as part of the consolidation of all food businesses into SMFPC.

During the meeting, shareholders also gave SMPFC management the go-ahead to declassify the company?s common shares and increase the company?s authorized capital stock by P1 billion in anticipation of future growth prospects. The company also declared an 18-percent stock dividend based on the issued and outstanding shares to be taken out of the increase in capital stock.

It was also announced that SMPFC chalked up a record P2.7 billion in net profit, up 17-fold from the P149 million in net income posted in the same period last year despite a domestic economic slowdown and the sluggish markets.

In a statement, SMPFC cited improved efficiencies, lower raw material costs, better hedging positions and effective cost management as major factors for its positive results. The company also achieved these results despite the damage caused by Tropical Storm Ondoy and Typhoon Pepeng.

Revenues reached an all-time high of P75 billion, 6-percent higher than the previous year, while income from operations grew 152 percent to P4.6 billion.

The company?s businesses?poultry, feeds and flour?were the key profit drivers, having benefited from stable pricing, softening raw material prices, improved efficiencies and effective management of costs. The dairy and piggery businesses also posted significant improvements in profitability.