RFM Corp. said preliminary data from last year show its food brands posted double digit growth.
Citing “anecdotal evidence” RFM said its Selecta Fortified Milk grew 56 percent while pasta brands Fiesta and Royal grew 16 percent and 44 percent, respectively.
“White King hotcakes and other bowl mixes also enjoyed a 36 percent increase as consumers purchased and cooked more in their homes during the lockdown,” it said.
Jose Ma. Concepcion III, RFM president, said t while the 2020 audited financials are still not available, “anecdotal evidence points to a better performance in 2020 compared to 2019 in revenues and income.”
“We saw our Selecta Milk, Royal and Fiesta pasta as well as the White King mixes and flour business units take advantage of the pantry loading behavior of the lockdown period. On the other hand, Selecta Ice cream and bread bun revenues were naturally impacted by the pandemic-induced closures of fastfood chains and stores,” Concepcion said.
This year, Concepcion said RFM “continues to watch trends in consumer sentiment and income as well as the ability of the coming vaccines to restore normalcy in the economy and daily lives of the people.”
Concepcion said RFM will continue to tighten control over expenses and capex while things remain uncertain.
“We have a strong balance sheet in RFM which supports the continuation of our dividend policy and share buyback programs. While RFM continues to look out for any M&A opportunities to boost shareholder value, the organic growth in milk, ice cream, pasta and mixes will be our growth drivers for 2021,” Concepcion said.
RFM on Monday declared a P350 million cash dividend, equivalent to P0.10387 per share, payable to shareholders of record February 8, 2021. It will paid on March 8, 2021.
“The dividend declaration is one of the usual two dividend declarations made every year by the company. RFM dividends per share have grown from 14 centavos in 2017 to 16 centavos by 2019 and to 21 centavos in 2020. At the end 2020 share price of 4.56 per share, the dividend yield is 4.6 percent,” the company said in a statement.
