Century Pacific 9-month net income up 26% to P3.3 billion

Food canner Century Pacific Food Inc.  (CNPF) on Tuesday said its net income saw a double-digit growth in the first nine months of 2020 amid increased demand for food products due to community quarantine against COVID-19.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, CNPF said its consolidated net income amounted to P3.3 billion, up 26% from P2.6 billion in the same period last year.

The company said its branded business - composed primarily of its marine, meat, and milk business units – saw a 28% increase in its consolidated revenue.

CNPF said its products saw heightened demand as a result of various government-mandated lockdowns, which limited mobility during the period but have since eased over the last few months.

“In spite of easing restrictions, we continued to see healthy growth in the third quarter due largely to the essentials and staples nature of our portfolio. Demand was robust amidst a more challenging environment and weaker consumer sentiment given our value for money positioning. As a result, our products continue to take a sizable portion of the consumer basket across all income classes and have proven resilient regardless of the macroeconomic conditions,” said Oscar Pobre, CNPF’s chief finance officer.

CNPF is the maker of household brands Century Tuna, 555, and Argentina.

In Milk, the company is an emerging player through heritage name Birch Tree, having launched a variety of dairy products under the brand.

“As we enter the last few months of 2020, we are pleased to see continued double-digit growth which should allow us to end the year with a north of 20% increase in earnings,” Pobre said.

“We are also now setting our sights on 2021, wherein healthy demand for our core branded products brought about by shifts in consumer behavior, alongside our aggressive pipeline of new product innovations, should allow us to grow again by double digits in spite of our high 2020 base,” he added.—AOL, GMA News