The Philippines: San Miguel Corp. president expects ‘a challenging year’ for the company

Ramon S. Ang, president of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC), on June 13 said he would be “thankful” if the company’s performance this year would match its 2022 results, the BusinessMirror reported.

Ang said during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting that 2023 will be “a challenging year” because of high inflation, higher cost of borrowing and the fluctuation of crude prices in the world market. He also noted the reduced power and food demand.

“So, but despite all of that, because the company is doing everything we can, our first quarter is still good,” Ang said.

“But, you know, if we compare 2022, which is a national election year, the volume is definitely much better than this year, 2023. So, if we can at least match the previous year’s performance, I think we should be very thankful.”

In 2022, San Miguel’s net income fell 44 percent to P26.76 billion from the previous year’s P48.16 billion.

Excluding the effects of foreign exchange and the CREATE Law, or Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act, its net income reached P43.21 billion, still lower than the previous year’s P47.04 billion.

For 2022, it had record revenues of P1.5 trillion, some 60 percent higher than the previous year’s P941.19 billion.

“In fact, the challenges we face only strengthen our commitment to continue helping grow our economy, and boost shared prosperity for all. Our projects today serve the purpose of making meaningful change and preparing us for tomorrow,” Ang said.

“This will help our country attain food and energy security, support regional growth, and local industries and make opportunities available to many Filipinos.”

SMC’s net income rose 27 percent to P17.73 billion in the first quarter from the previous year’s P13.94 billion on strong sales across its businesses.

Revenues rose 9 percent to P346.72 billion from the previous year’s P316.76 billion, bolstered by higher volumes coming from Petron Corp., San Miguel Brewery Inc. and SMC Infrastructure.

“Our strong first quarter results reflect our commitment to execute well on our strategic priorities as we navigated through a very challenging environment. With raw material prices expected to stabilize, we are confident we can deliver an even better performance in the coming months,” Ang said.

14 June, 2023