San Miguel nets P52B

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. grew net profit last year by 80 percent to P52 billion, driven by higher revenues and better margins across its major businesses.

Excluding foreign exchange losses amounting to P8.9 billion, consolidated income reached P61.2 billion, more than double the P28.99 billion net profit reported in the previous year.

The net income figures reported by SMC included earnings attributable to minority or non-controlling interest. The net profit attributable to equity holders of parent firm was yet to be disclosed.

Last year, SMC also sold all of its telecom assets to PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom.

In a press statement on Thursday, SMC said consolidated operating income rose by 24 percent to P99.7 billion, with most of its businesses delivering double-digit income growth. Revenue grew by only 2 percent to P685 billion due to low fuel prices of oil refining arm Petron Corp.

Flagship beer brewery San Miguel Brewery grew net profit last year by 31 percent to P17.7 billion on record-high domestic volumes.

Hard liquor arm Ginebra San Miguel Inc. also recorded higher volumes for the third straight year, reaching 25.2 million cases or 9 percent higher than in 2015. Net profit amounted to P361 million, a turnaround from last year’s P386 million loss, supported by a 12-percent growth in revenues to P18.6 billion.

Food arm San Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc. posted a 26-percent growth in net profit to P6 billion. The food company reported sustained growth momentum throughout the year with consolidated revenues reaching P111.6 billion, 4 percent higher than the previous year, driven by robust volumes and favorable selling prices for chicken and value-added products. This partly offset the drop in flour prices as global grain stocks pile up. With improved margins, operating income grew by 17 percent to P8.9 billion.

San Miguel Packaging Group, for its part, reported a 10-percent growth in operating income to P2.6 billion. Sales revenues rose by 9 percent to P27.4 billion on the back of strong sales from its glass and plastics businesses and higher contributions from its Australian businesses.

SMC Global Power’s operating income also expanded by 13 percent to P26.7 billion, driven by lower generation costs and an improvement in generation volume from both Sual and Ilijan. This unit reported a 5 percent increase in offtake volume to 17,355 gwh, with both the Sual and Ilijan power plants posting higher bilateral volumes. Revenues amounted to P78 billion.

Petron’s consolidated net income reached P10.8 billion, 73 percent higher than the previous year. The increase in profit was attributed to sales volume growth, better efficiencies from both Philippines and Malaysia operations, an increased crude run at higher product yields, and effective risk management.

SMC’s infrastructure business, through San Miguel Holdings Corp., also delivered higher contributions, with revenues increasing 13 percent to P19.9 billion. This was mainly driven by steady growth in traffic volume for all SMC-operated toll roads – South Luzon Expressway, Skyway 1 and 2, STAR and TPLEX.