San Miguel earns P31.2 billion in 3 quarters

San Miguel Corp.'s profit more than doubled in the first nine months of the year, the conglomerate said on Monday, boosted by strong performances from key operating units, according to a report by Manila Times.

Consolidated net income was said to have hit P31.20 billion for January-September, up from P12.90 billion a year earlier, while consolidated operating income grew by 29 percent to P110.20 billion.

The company cited performance improvements across its fuel and oil, beverages, packaging, infrastructure, and cement businesses, particularly from subsidiaries Petron Corp., San Miguel Brewery Inc., Ginebra San Miguel Inc., SMC Infrastructure, and Eagle Cement Corp.

"The company's resilient performance in the face of economic challenges is very encouraging. Our achievements highlight our consistent focus on quality and strategic business growth," San Miguel Corp. President and CEO Ramon S. Ang said in a statement.

"We remain dedicated to delivering exceptional service to our customers while contributing to broader national initiatives," he added.

Consolidated revenues for the first nine months of 2023, meanwhile, were flat at P1.10 trillion due to lower selling prices from Petron along with a decrease in sales for San Miguel Food and Beverage Inc. and San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp.

This was partly offset by higher sales in other businesses, the conglomerate said.

San Miguel Food maintained its growth momentum in the third quarter, which contributed to a 6 percent increase in consolidated revenue to P276.70 billion and a net income of P27 billion.

San Miguel Brewery also continued to perform strongly, with consolidated revenues reaching P108.30 billion for the first three quarters of 2023 and 9 percent higher than last year.

Ginebra San Miguel likewise posted a 13 percent growth in revenues to P38.90 billion.

San Miguel Food continued to face challenges with rising inflation and high costs of raw materials. Consolidated revenue still managed to increase by 1 percent to P129.40 billion due to continued growth in the flour, dairy, coffee, feeds, and processed meats businesses.

Meanwhile, San Miguel Global Power's consolidated net income surged to P9.10 billion from a P2.60 billion net loss recorded a year earlier due to lower foreign exchange revaluation.

However, it also reported a 19 percent decline in consolidated offtake generation volumes, mainly due to a yearlong outage of the 1,200-megawatt Ilijan Power Plant that started in June 2022.

Petron recorded consolidated sales volume of 93.6 million barrels, up 16 percent from the 80.4 million barrels sold a year earlier due to improvements across major business segments.

This allowed the oil firm to absorb increased financing costs and end the period with a consolidated net income of P9.50 billion, 16 percent higher than the P8.20 billion a year ago.

Consolidated revenues stood at P587.30 billion, down from P631.10 billion in the same period last year, as prices corrected from extraordinarily elevated levels last year due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

SMC Infrastructure, meanwhile, reached the million mark in combined average daily traffic volume across all operating toll roads, 11 percent higher than last year.

Consolidated revenues increased by 20 percent to P25.10 billion while operating income reached P13.70 billion, a 35 percent improvement.

Eagle Cement, Northern Cement Corp. and Southern Concrete Industries Inc., generated consolidated revenues of P28.90 billion, 255 percent higher than last year, mainly due to the consolidation of Eagle in 2023.

The group swung to an operating income of P4.60 billion, rebounding from an operating loss of P19 million a year earlier.

San Miguel's share price rose by 10 centavos, or 0.1 percent, to P103 on Monday amid a 0.74-percent drop for the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index.