Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines allots P3.5 billion for 2014 expansion

Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. is spending P3.5 billion this year to expand capacity and distribution as a way of maintaining double-digit growth, a company official said Tuesday.

 

Bulk of the capital expenditure is dedicated to grow production capacity, president Partho Chakrabati told reporters at a briefing in Makati City.

 

"We'd like to have a 20 percent manufacturing headroom annually," he said, adding he did not have total capacity numbers on hand.

 

Last year, the company earmarked over P4 billion in capex, of which 60 percent was allotted to complete the installation of three new line facilities in Rosario, La Union, Muntinlupa and Davao.

 

Chakrabati said they also added a new line facility in Sto.Tomas, Batangas – company's largest manufacturing plant.

 

"So this is where we largely spent the money in the expansion plan," he said.

 

This year, Chakrabati said he is confident of maintaining double-digit growth in sales and profits.

 

"We had a terrific year and I am quite optimistic. We have all our programs in place," he said, declining to give out the full year numbers, citing Philippine Stock Exchange and Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure rules.

 

In the first nine months of 2013,  the company grew income by 12 percent to P780.7 million from P696 million on the back of a 17 percent jump in gross revenues to P19.4 billion.

 

"We got hit in one island plant in Tanauan, which is a large part of our volume but we sustained a double-digit growth generally," Chakrabati said, referring to the the damage to its plant caused by Typhoon Yolanda last November.

He also noted the beverage industry "did not spike much" despite the mid-term elections last May. "Normally, a year after the election tends to be a little lower and I don’t think that will happen in 2014," Chakrabati noted.

 

"In 2014, we will have good economic growth and the beverage industry is expected to grow in line with the 6 to 7 percent GDP growth and we hope to do better than that," he added.

 

Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines is a licensed bottler of PepsiCo Inc. and Pepsi Lipton International Limited in the Philippines, manufacturing beverages under brands such as Pepsi-Cola, 7Up, Mountain Dew, Mirinda, Mug, Gatorade, Lipton, Tropicana/Twister, Propel and Sting. – VS, GMA News