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SMC reports P9.1-B profit for 2005
(Philippine Daily Inquirer Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)SAN MIGUEL CORP. POSTED A SLIGHT 3-percent increase in profit in 2005 to P9.15 billion from a restated net income of P8.86 billion in 2004, as the food and beverage giant continued to reel from high financing charges due to its aggressive expansion overseas.
Financing charges and one-time expenses due to its acquisition of Australian dairy National Foods, its largest acquisition last year, hit P6.9 billion in 2005 compared with P2.1 billion in 2004.
Excluding these one-offs, net income would have increased by 10 percent, San Miguel said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) yesterday.
San Miguel's full year net income, however, surpassed projections of stock market analysts who expected it to post a decline in net income to between P7.3 to P7.8 billion, an Inquirer poll earlier showed.
Contributions from its newly acquired international businesses also kicked in last year as San Miguel reported a 30-percent increase in its consolidated revenues to P227 billion.
This was largely boosted by the consolidation of National Foods, which SMC acquired last year for roughly $1 billion.
Operating income remained unchanged at P17.5 billion despite raw material cost increases and one-time packaging costs incurred for Gran Matador and Coke "Sakto."
The operating income also reflected a restructuring charge at beverage unit Coca Cola and hard liquor arm Ginebra San Miguel totaling P972 million.
These costs weighed down on the profitability of San Miguel's soft drink and hard liquor operations, San Miguel chief finance officer Ferdinand Constantino wrote in a report to investors yesterday.
Constantino also explained that excise taxes also dragged volumes of San Miguel's hard liquor unit Ginebra San Miguel, adversely affecting affordability.
"Looking beyond these results, I think it is important to stress that we were prepared to forego on short-term profitability because we believe we've made the right choices in terms of strengthening our position to deliver longer-term growth across our core businesses and set the agenda in our industry-both in the Philippines and in the region," Constantino told investors.
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