D&L allots P1B from capital expenditures for Batangas plant expansion

Food ingredients and industrial chemicals maker D&L Industries Inc. is allocating P1 billion from capital expenditures for the expansion of its Batangas plant. 

According to D&L president Alvin Lao on Monday, the amount was lower than the P1.16 billion spent by the company last year since they have already completed much of the Batangas plant.

“Capex peaked in 2022 (P3.5 billion) and it will continue to be lower. There are some projects that were started at the main phase of construction a couple of years ago that have been completed recently and we still have to release the retention fees,'' Lao said in a press release.

“At the same time, we are still making minor expansions, not as big as what we’ve done in the past couple of years, but on a much smaller scale. So there will still be some capex, but expectation is for it to be lower than what we did last year,” he added.

Lao said the Batangas plant is expected to continue to elevate their operations this year and is expected to increase its contribution to the company’s net income for 2025.

He said the plant booked a net income of P244 million in 2024, despite early losses due to start up costs, with earnings for the fourth quarter alone reaching P248 million.

“In general, the trend should be upwards (of P248 million), although in some quarters, it might go down to below P200 million or even P100 million. But it will be seeing higher lows and higher highs in the succeeding quarters, so it will be definitely higher for the full year and its contribution to the bottom line (of D&L) will also be higher,” Lao said.—Anna Felicia Bajo/AOL, GMA Integrated News