Century Pacific Q1 income hits P793M

Robust sales of its branded products allowed Century Pacific Food Inc. (CNPF), the country’s largest producer of canned food, to post a net income of P793 million in the first quarter of this year.

CNPF, the company behind popular canned food products like Century Tuna, 555, Blue Bay, Argentina and Swift, said its income grew from last year’s profit in the same period of P732 million.

Its consolidated gross profit also grew by 9 percent to P2.18 billion from P1.98 billion, while its consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization amounted to P1.32 billion.

The company’s higher revenue was mainly due to the sustained double-digit growth of its revenues from branded goods as it continued to push for demand-generating activities and improvements in product distribution.

This strategy enabled the company to offset the company’s higher input costs, particularly for key raw materials, packaging, manufacturing and direct labor costs.

Aside from its domestic market, CNPF also exports its products, mainly to the United States and the Middle East where there are huge Filipino communities.

It also exports to other parts of North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

CNPF has also acquired licenses to international brands such as Kamayan in North America, one of the top names in the US market for shrimp paste, as well as Hunt’s.

Century Tuna is also now the leading canned tuna brand in China, where it acquired distribution companies in 2016.