Higher taxes eat into San Miguel Brewery sales volume, profit

MANILA, Philippines—San Miguel Brewery reported a 17-percent drop in net profit to P12.5 billion last year as higher excise taxes gnawed on sales volume alongside some foreign exchange losses from dollar obligations.

Excluding the impact of the foreign exchange fluctuations on the company’s dollar-denominated loans and without non-recurring items in 2012, SMB’s consolidated net income in 2013 would have declined by only 3.4 percent versus the previous year, the company said in a press statement on Friday.

The brewery, a subsidiary of San Miguel Corp., said 2013 net sales revenues amounted to P75.1 billion, marginally lower than P 75.6 billion the prior year.

“Higher excise taxes imposed in January 2013 took a toll on beer sales volumes, resulting in a 9 percent decline for the year as SMB was forced to raise selling prices on its major beer brands,” the company said.

Total SMB sales volumes for 2013 reached 204 million cases.

SMB’s operating income amounted to P 21.6 billion, 3.5 percent lower than level in the previous year.

“Despite the drop in volumes, SMB managed to maintain operating income margins within last year’s levels due to efforts to manage the company’s fixed costs and improve operational efficiencies for both domestic and international operations,” the company said.