RFM Declares Cash Dividend of PhP271M, Reports 10% Growth in 1H2019 Revenues

Listed food and beverage company RFM Corp. (PSE: RFM) disclosed that their Board of Directors approved today a cash dividend of PhP271 million or PhP0.0774 per share, for shareholders as of record date of August 7, 2019 and the payment date for which is set on September 4, 2019.

RFM President and CEO Jose Ma. A. Concepcion III said that this cash dividend declaration is the second of two tranches to pay out the company’s 50% recurring net income. Total dividends declared by RFM this 2019 now amounts to PhP553 million or PhP0.1579 per share.

The CEO said that second quarter revenues posted a healthy 9.8% improvement from last year, bringing the first half sales to PhP6.96 billion with a growth of 10.3%.

RFM’s Selecta Milk, Selecta Ice Cream, Fiesta and Royal Pasta and Sauces drove the double digit growth for 6-month period ended June. Selecta Fortified Milk has been leading the pace of growth of RFM’s topline. Concepcion also disclosed that with such strong growth momentum in the ready-to-drink white milk and spaghetti sauce segments, RFM is investing this year in additional milk and sauce capacities costing over PhP400 million. In 2018, the company’s ice cream joint venture with Unilever also invested over PhP1 billion to expand capacity while RFM’s flour division completed a PhP240 million mills upgrade.

Concepcion added that “the Philippine economy’s growth trajectory has buoyed confidence of continued consumption expansion hence our heavy investment in new production capacities for RFM.”

The CEO also noted that the slowdown in inflation and recent strength of the peso will dampen cost inflation and that RFM’s strong balance sheet and cash position make the food company well positioned to take advantage of growth opportunities in the food sector.