RFM Corp., the food and beverage company owned by the Concepcion family, reported a net income of P211 million in the third quarter of 2017, up 20 percent year-on-year, on the back of higher revenues.
RFM said in a disclosure to the stock exchange third-quarter revenues climbed seven percent to P3.16 billion on strong sales from ice cream products.
RFM president and chief executive Jose Concepcion III said Selecta Ice cream sales drove the strong third quarter performance of RFM after a relatively less-than-usual wet weather.
RFM’s ice cream joint venture with Unilever sells ice cream under the Selecta, Cornetto and Magnum brands.
Revenues from pasta brands Royal and Fiesta as well as milk and ready-to-drink products were flat. The company said it expects sales to pick up in the fourth quarter as the Christmas selling season begins.
RFM noted a sustained increase in the revenues of its private label bread unit that also helped offset the weaker performance of other institutional revenue sources like flour.
The strong third quarter performance puts RFM on track of beating its 2016 net income of P1 billion. RFM’s net income stood at P719 million in the first nine months of the year 2017.
The food and beverage firms recently declared a cash dividend of P200 million or P0.057 per share, for shareholders of record as of October 11, 2017.
Concepcion said the second cash dividend declaration in 2017 completed the company’s 50 percent cash dividend on recurring net income.
“Total cash dividends for 2017 now amounts to P500 million or P0.14 per share,” he said.
The company has allotted P250 million in capital expenditures flour unit to upgrade flour mills and ensure competitiveness of the flour brands over next two years.
Share price of RFM on Friday rose 3.3 percent to P4.70.