MANILA, Philippines — RFM Corp., the listed food and beverage company of the Concepcion Group, said its brands sustained growth last year despite the difficult business environment brought about by the pandemic.
RFM Corp. president and CEO Jose Ma. A. Concepcion III said the organic growth in milk, ice cream, pasta and mixes would be the company’s growth drivers for this year, even as the company continues to look out for merger and acquisition opportunities to boost shareholder value.
Its consumer brands Selecta Fortified Milk saw sustained growth in 2020, expanding at 56 percent, while pasta brands Fiesta and Royal grew by 16 percent and 44 percent, respectively from year ago levels, preliminary data showed.
Likewise, its White King hotcakes and other bowl mixes also enjoyed a 36 percent increase as consumers purchased and cooked more in their homes during the series of lockdowns last year.
Concepcion said the company performed better in 2020 compared to 2019 noting, howerver, that the audited numbers are still not available.
“While the 2020 audited financials are still not available, anecdotal evidence points to a better performance in 2020 compared to 2019 in revenues and income,” he said.
Selecta Milk, Royal and Fiesta pasta, as well as the White King mixes and flour business units, benefitted from the pantry loading behavior of the lockdown period.
On the other hand, Selecta Ice cream and bread bun revenues affected negatively by the pandemic-induced closures of fastfood chains and stores, Concepcion said.
For this year, RFM continues to watch trends in consumer sentiment and income, as well as the ability of the coming vaccines to restore normalcy in the economy and daily lives of the people.
RFM will continue to tighten control over expenses and capex while things remain uncertain, Concepcion said.
“We have a strong balance sheet in RFM which supports the continuation of our dividend policy and share buyback programs,” he said.
RFM’s board of directors approved a cash dividend of P350 million or P0.10387 per share payable on March 8, with record date as of Feb. 8.
“The dividend declaration is one of the usual two dividend declarations made every year by the company. RFM dividends per share have grown from 14 centavos in 2017 to 16 centavos by 2019 and to 21 centavos in 2020. At the end 2020 share price of 4.56 per share, the dividend yield is 4.6 percent,” RFM said.
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Article and Photo originally posted by Philippine Star last January 26, 2021 12:00am and written by Iris Gonzales.
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