Swift Foods moves to cut capital deficit

Concepcion group-led agribusiness firm Swift Foods Inc. is embarking on a corporate restructuring program to reduce close to P3 billion in capital deficit.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, Swift Foods said it would submit to shareholders for ratification on Dec. 20 a recommendation to reduce the par value of the corporation from P1 to 8.9 centavos a share.

The reduction will eliminate Swift’s deficit, cleaning up its balance sheet. The move will apply to both common and preferred shares of the company, which is currently valued by the stock market at about P218 million.

“The equity restructuring will not change the company’s number of issued and outstanding shares and stockholders’ interest in the company,” the disclosure said.

Swift Foods was incorporated in 1994 to handle RFM Corp.’s business of manufacturing, marketing and distributing processed and canned meat products, poultry products and commercial feeds. It originally has two business divisions– agribusiness (poultry and feeds) and meat (meat processing and sales and distribution) divisions.

In 2002, the production, marketing and distribution activities of the meat division were transferred back to RFM.

Since 2006, the company’s only business is poultry. It has 10 integrated branches nationwide engaged in hatching, growing, dressing and distribution operations which supply poultry to customers within its geographic area.

Swift Foods’ agribusiness division produces and sells poultry products, such as live and dressed chicken.  Its poultry production involves two processes: broiler growing operations and dressing/processing operations.

In 2012, the trade license agreement between the company and RFM was finalized giving ownership of the Swift brand to the latter.  That same year, RFM sold its Swift-branded meat business to a unit of the Po family’s Century Canning group. –DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA