‘Danding’ seen to get fresh mandate

Over 2,000 stockholders of San Miguel Corp. are expected to convene today at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel for its annual meeting to elect a new board of directors of the country’s largest food, beverage and packaging firm.

Shareholders are largely expected to give the present board of directors, led by Eduardo M. Cojuangco, Jr., a fresh mandate to continue the programs they have initiated over the past two and a half years which have resulted in improve shareholder value and SMC’s lofty standing in the business community in the Philippines as well as in Southeast Asia.

Cojuangco’s sound management led to a complete turnaround for the company which translated into SMC’s recurring net income of P7.51 billion in 2000, P6.02 billion in 1999, and P3.31 billion in 1998 for a 20-percent annual growth rate.

A turnaround in international operations from a loss of about a $40 million in 1998 to an operating income of $3.8 million in 2000, significant cost savings from corporate reengineering, and contributions from new business acquisitions like Metro Bottled Water Corp., Sugarland and J. Boag & Son were behind San Miguel’s solid growth, according to Cojuangco.

SMC’s positive performance in the past three years is a complete reversal from the 28-percent decline in operating income from 1996 to 1997 and the 10-percent drop from 1995 to 1996. It is also a turnaround from the 44-percent slide in net income from 1996 to 1997 and the two-percent downturn from 1995 to 1996.

Cojuangco has projected a 20 percent growth in revenues over the next two years that will come from higher sales and broader market share, as well as from strategic acquisitions which SMC is pursuing, such as the buyback of Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc. (CCBPI) and the purchase of Pure Foods Corp.

The Coke acquisition and the consolidation of SMC’s non-alcoholic business with CCBPI’s carbonated beverage segment further bolsters the company’s leadership in the total beverage market, while the purchase of Pure Foods strengthens the company’s position as market leader in the country’s fast-growing food industry.

Last Monday, the Mandaluyong Regional Trial court branch 21 junked the petition of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) seeking a preliminary mandatory and/or prohibitory injunction to compel SMC to reopen the nomination for the company’s board of directors and to postpone SMC’s stockholders scheduled this afternoon.

In a five-page decision, the court ruled that while GSIS as a stockholder has an inherent right to nominate its candidates to the SMC board and to vote the shares it holds, these rights must be exercised in accordance with the provisions of the by-laws of the company. The same court earlier denied the petition for a temporary restraining order against the holding of the scheduled SMC annual meeting.