Canned food manufacturer Century Pacific Food Inc. (CNPF) of the Po family said Monday it allotted between P4 billion and P5 billion for 2024 capital expenditures to support the expansion of its meat, coconut, pet food businesses.
CNPF president and chief executive Teodoro Alexander Po said during the company’s annual stockholders meeting that bulk of this year’s capital spending would support the expansion of its coconut processing capacity.
The group plans to spend $40 million to increase the capacity of coconut processing by 90 million liters to serve the increasing demand from export and domestic business.
CNPF signed a long-term agreement with Vita Coco Company Inc., one of the world’s leading coconut water brands in March this year.
The agreement is expected to create at least 1,500 quality new jobs and support the growth of the local coconut industry in Mindanao.
Meanwhile, Po said the company is also expected to sustain its double-digit growth in revenues and profit this year despite the challenging market conditions.
“We are cautiously optimistic because there are challenges that appear in the horizon. Inflation continues to linger in the Philippine market so the consumer weakness is still very much felt by our business,” Po said.
Po said while there were still challenges in the second quarter brought about by higher inflation and increased freight costs, the company is expected to weather these challenges if they turn out to be temporary.
“We are observing and still watching for these cost pressures. We are hoping for recovery going forward into the third quarter,” Po said.
CNPF booked net income of P1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2024, up 15 percent year-on-year as revenues grew 16 percent to P18.2 billion.