Century Pacific gets P1.15-B loan

Century Pacific Food Inc., the company behind the Century Tuna and Argentina Corned Beef beef brands, secured a loan to partly pay for the acquisition of a Mindanao-based affiliate that makes coconut-based products like juice and oil.

In a stock exchange filing Friday, Century Pacific said it had sealed a five-year P1.15-billion fixed-rate term loan.

Proceeds from the loan will be used to refinance short-term debt that was used to buy Century Pacific Agricultural Ventures Inc., which has an integrated coconut manufacturing facility in General Santos.

It said that P1.65 billion of the amount had been converted to fixed-rate term loans, while P600 million remained short-term.

Century Pacific Agricultural Ventures was already part of the company’s latest earnings report.

Century Pacific, the country’s biggest  canned food company, said net income during the first three months of the year hit P636 million, up 45 percent from year-ago level. This was attributed to strong demand  for its branded products and the “subdued” prices of key raw materials.

Century Pacific added that revenue was up 22 percent to P6.4 billion in the first three months of 2016. Sales from the three branded businesses—marine, meat and milk—grew by 15 percent year-on-year and accounted for 78 percent of total sales.

“The domestic economy remains vibrant and our strong market position has allowed us to benefit from increased per capita consumption,” Century Pacific chief finance officer Oscar Pobre said in a statement.

“Improved sales distribution and well-executed marketing campaigns have also helped us sustain double digit growth, enough to offset weakness in our private-label tuna export business where the global situation remains challenged,” he added.

Its first quarter operating income and earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization amounted to P860 million and P934 million, up by 40 percent and 43 percent respectively.

“We have built-up good momentum in sales volume growth, plus subdued raw material prices and hedging strategies have also allowed us to continue our program of investing in our brands,” Pobre said. Miguel R. Camus