RFM Corp., the food and beverage company owned by the Concepcion family, said Tuesday net income rose 9 percent in 2015 to P908.4 million from a year ago, as revenues reached a record level.
RFM said in a disclosure to the stock exchange sales climbed 11 percent in 2015 to P12.2 billion, the highest level achieved by the company since it began operations.
RFM president and chief executive Jose Concepcion III said sales continued to come in strong especially for the consumer branded businesses such as pasta and ice cream units.
Concepcion said revenue from pasta business grew by double digit, after the company improved the lineup of distributors and solved placement issues with some accounts.
The group’s ice cream business under the Selecta brand also hit a double-digit growth rate as it expanded the market and increased consumption with new product innovations and value propositions.
Concepcion earlier said he expected the pasta business to increase its market share to 70 percent over the next two years from current 39 percent, while the ice cream business would remain the dominant player in the industry with 80-percent market share.
“Income also registered a new-high level as we sold more of the higher-margin products and as we hit better economies of scale that helped spread overhead costs. Other businesses like milk have also exhibited improvements in performance after fine-tuning its business model,” Concepcion said.
“RFM also retained its healthy cash position in spite of the bigger working capital used for production during the peak months of the fourth quarter,” he said.
The company, which has been consistently growing in sales and income over the past several years, settled the remaining P252-million long-term debt in July.
RFM said for 2016, net income was expected to top the P1-billion mark as sales would likely be boosted by election-related spending.
The company recently expanded its plant capacities, particularly the pasta plant to accommodate higher production of the newly-acquired pasta brand Royal.