SMC vows to keep stepping up sustainability efforts

San Miguel Corp. on Tuesday said it expected its robust pace of growth to continue over the next few years, thanks to strong demand for its products and the increase in capacity that its current expansion programs would bring.

Speaking to stockholders on Tuesday, the chief of the country’s largest conglomerate also vowed to grow its corporate social responsibility programs in step with the group’s growth—its latest philanthropic venture being a 1,000-square-meter “food bank” that can feed as many as 5,000 people a day in Manila’s impoverished Tondo district.

SMC president Ramon Ang said its Better World Community Center would be “the first of its kind in the country.”  It will serve as a food bank, soup kitchen and a livelihood training center for low-income families.

“This is just the first,” he said. “By building more sustainable communities in the country we hope to empower those in reduced circumstances to be able to transform their lives.”

During the firm’s annual stockholders’ meeting in Mandaluyong City, Ang said “robust volume growth across all major businesses” allowed the company to reach trillion-peso revenue levels two years ahead of target.

Ang earlier set a 2020 target for San Miguel to reach P1 trillion in revenue, but this was achieved at the end of last year when the conglomerate reported consolidated revenue of P1.02 trillion, representing a 24-percent hike over the 2017 level.

During this period, operating income was up 5 percent to P117.1 billion, while consolidated recurring income improved slightly to P55.2 billion. Consolidated earnings before interested, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 7 percent to P157.9 billion.

For the first quarter of 2019, SMC posted a consolidated revenue of P250.9 billion, up 7 percent, driven by higher volumes and favorable selling prices from almost all major businesses.  Operating income amounted to P31.1 billion and net income was at P12.8 billion.

Ang said the conglomerate’s latest philanthropic effort would be in Barangay 101 in Tondo in a facility that used to be a beer warehouse and distribution center.