RFM reports net income increase of close to 10%

MANILA, Philippines - High demand for affordable products pushed up food and beverage firm RFM Corp.’s profit for the third quarter amidst the global financial turmoil. RFM’s net income from July to September went up by almost a tenth to P27 million compared with last year, bringing the company’s nine-month profit to P158.9 million. "The company’s net income grew on the back of an 8.3% growth in its consolidated net sales which reached P5.6 billion. The growth was achieved across all its divisions, including branded pasta, ready- to-drink milk, juice, tea and water products; canned and chilled meats, and ice cream," the company said in a statement Friday. RFM President and CEO Jose Concepcion III also said the company will not be increasing the prices on most of their products. "To be able to sustain this strategy, RFM will continuously innovate and search for items where we can reduce costs in purchasing, production, marketing and logistics," Mr. Concepcion said. The company recently upgraded its Swift meat plant in Cabuyao which the company said is now delivering greater efficiencies and lower unit product costs. "Our Swift meat plant is the first and largest meat processing plant that is Halal certified, paving the way for supplying Swift meat products such as hotdogs or frankfurters and sausages to the 1.9 billion Muslim consumer market around the world," Mr. Concepcion said. The company this month also inaugurated a new pasta plant for their Fiesta brand which is offsetting the higher flour costs because of the facility’s lower unit costs. — Kristine Jane R. Liu, BusinessWorld