D&L Industries Inc. is confident of hitting a 10- percent profit growth for the full year after it closed its first semester at P1.31 billion, up 6 percent from the prior year’s P1.24 billion.
Alvin Lao, D&L president, said the company is more confident of its prospects moving forward as its newly-inauguarated Batangas plant turns profitable ahead of the projected two-year timetable.
Sales grew 17 percent to P18.98 billion compared to last year’s P16.23 billion.
“The second quarter of this year marks the turning point in our Batangas operations as it booked a quarterly profit for the first time since we started commercial operations in July 2023. As we further ramp up operations and onboard new customers, we see gradually increasing earnings contribution from this new plant over time,” said Lao.
The new plant booked a net profit of P149 million for the quarter. This represents a quarter-on-quarter improvement in operations, from a peak loss of P315 million in the first quarter of commercial operations to almost breaking even in the first quarter of 2024 to finally being profitable this quarter, D&L said.
To date, the new plant has fulfilled several orders for both local and export customers. Several audit and certification processes are ongoing in order to on-board more customers.
Lao said D&L continues to monitor macro developments that may potentially dampen business sentiment, such as the higher-for-longer interest rates, lingering effects of inflation, depreciating peso and even the potential hard landing or recession in the US. – Ruelle Castro
