PH firm makes big plans to take on China market

Targeting consumption-driven China, The Big Chill Inc. (TBC) of listed firm AgriNurture Inc. (ANI) has set up shop in Hong Kong and plans to open two stores next month.

With the opening of its Hong Kong office last month, ANI has expanded its worldwide operations. It maintains offices in the Philippines, China, Australia, Taiwan, Europe and the United States.

The next move for the health drink franchise is to serve juices and shakes in Hong Kong before Christmas, ANI chairman and CEO Antonio L. Tiu told the Inquirer.

“We’ll be opening The Big Chill in Hong Kong airport and the IFC mall (also in Hong Kong) next month,” Tiu said.

The Big Chill is set to offer new products, such as coconut drinks in Tetra Paks.

“We will probably start our production run around December,” Tiu said.

All this activity comes ahead of plans for the company to go public.

Tiu said TBC, which ANI acquired in 2011, may be listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange sometime next year.

ANI used to be a supplier for The Big Chill before acquiring it in the third quarter of 2011. TBC and ANI’s smaller retail initiatives contributed an aggregate P68 million in revenue, netting P1.7 million, that same year.

Officials have said ANI is in for a “very handsome growth” this year with higher revenue and income as it expands its product lines and exports base. Tiu said growth would come from sales of coconut water, mango, banana and rice.

In an earlier interview, ANI president Luigi Bernas said the main growth driver for the company is exports. Before, local distribution accounted for 70 percent of the company’s trade. Now, exports accounted for 60 percent of its business.

Bernas said the company was able to weather challenges this year, including the territorial tension between China and the Philippines, which took its toll on Filipino exporters. Most were not able to get their products out of ports and into the Chinese market.

But according to the government, banana shipments from the Philippines to China have gone back to normal.

“We were relatively hit less by the banana issue in China because, by the time it hit us {the Philippines), we did not currently own banana plantations. By the end of the year, we will own plantations,” Bernas explained.

Last year, ANI posted a record high net income, which surged 136 percent to P216 million from P93.5 million in 2010.

Also, ANI’s consolidated revenue grew almost 41 percent to P2.25 billion in 2011 from P1.6 billion in 2010.