Balai Ni Fruitas ripe for further growth

MANILA, Philippines  —Food kiosk king Lester Yu’s bakery chain Balai Ni Fruitas is bumping up commissary investments by over 80 percent to P110 million with its eyes firmly set on expansion in Metro Manila and Cebu.

Balai is the holding company of Yu’s Balai Ni Pandesal bakeshops, Buko Ni Fruitas and Fruitas House of Desserts.

The company said the increased commissary spending will come from proceeds from its initial public offering that was intended for store network expansion and improvements.

“The purpose of the additional allocation of IPO proceeds to commissary setup is to reduce the need for further loans and help the company avoid interest expense for the N. Domingo commissary,” Balai said in a stock exchange filing on Monday.

READ: Balai Ni Fruitas getting new commissary to address product demand

It also plans to allocate funds for the Balai commissary in Naya Village Tisa, Cebu City. This will expand the capacity for Balai products in the Visayas Region.

“The new commissary to be built in Tisa, Cebu City is expected to be completed within the year,” Balai said.

In a previous filing, Balai underscored efforts to preserve profit margins while increasing its cash position to support expansion.

READ: Balai ni Fruitas posts 77% growth in 9-month profit

From January to September this year, the operator of Balai Pandesal bakeshops booked a net income of P41 million versus P23 million during the same period last year, a stock exchange filing on Tuesday showed.

Revenues grew 65 percent to P387 million while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization expanded by 62 percent to P74 million. As of Nov. 7 last year, Balai had 119 stores in its network.