Concepcion Industrial’s 1H profit up 45%

MANILA—Airconditioning and refrigeration appliance manufacturer Concepcion Industrial Corp. (CIC) posted a 45-percent year-on-year growth in first-half net profit to P346 million.

This growth was fueled by net sales of P4.8 billion for the period, a 28-percent increase from the level in the same period last year, CIC told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

CIC attributed the double-digit growth in business for the first six months to the strong sales performance of both the consumer as well as the building and industrial solutions segments. It also noted increased profitability in the refrigeration business as investments in higher margin products and cost reductions began to pay off.

The earnings were also buoyed by the contributions of CIC’s latest acquisition, Concepcion Otis Philippines Inc., a deal that was completed last March 28. This gave CIC a ticket to the elevator and escalator business, coming in as joint venture partner of American multinational conglomerate United Technologies Corp.

For the second quarter alone, CIC’s profit was up by 54 percent and sales rose by 21 percent.

During CIC’s recent annual meeting, the shareholders approved and ratified, pending further regulatory approval, a special stock dividend of 30 percent with a record date of August 22 and payment date of September 8 this year. The company paid last April a regular cash dividend of P0.59 per share in line with its policy of setting aside 30 percent of prior year’s net income as dividends.