Chemical trader SBS Philippines Corp. said its income more than doubled during the first half of the year as it sold more of its higher-margin products.
The company said in its report to the Philippine Stock Exchange that its income for the period ending June rose to P72.5 million from last year’s P33.7 million.
Net sales increased by more than a quarter to P458.6 million from last year’s P360.2 million, propelled by the strong growth in the food ingredients business. “The strong sales performance in the first half of 2015 was primarily driven by the food ingredients business which accounted for significant portion of the sales increase and the balance by pharmaceutical, feeds, veterinary care and industrial products,” the company said.
It added that SBS, controlled by the Sytengco family, benefited from the increase in chemical consumption by the manufacturing and production sectors driven by strong domestic private consumption.
Both its operating profit and net income more than doubled in value from last year as continued focus on high margin products and operational improvements increased profitability.
“In the light of the continued economic development in the country and Asean region, the chemical distribution business is seen to continue its strong growth and SBS will be in the forefront of this trend given its highly diversified product lines and customer base,” the company said.
“The company expects to steadily benefit from this positive market development and continue with its accelerated organic growth,” it added. SBS is only the second company to go public this year. The company earlier said that it will plans to expand to other markets in large economies in Southeast Asia as the company hopes to further grow its business from its overseas operations.
Necisto Sytengco, the company president and chairman of the board, said the company already has presence in Southeast Asian countries, such as Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
“We want to do it because the market has already opened up between region, because of Asean integration. Most likely we will do some combination with the logistic company for a distribution hub,” he said.
At the moment, revenues from abroad comprise about 10 percent of revenues. But if it proves successful, Sytengco said he is looking at revenues from abroad to contribute as much as 30 percent in two to three years.
“For regional (operations) it depends on how big we want to tap. We will try to evaluate later on. At present we have the capacity to cater. But if we want to go bigger, we have the facility from the bank,” he said.