D&L shares up 1.4% in listing debut

MANILA, Philippines - Shares of D&L Industries Inc., the country’s leading manufacturer of customized food ingredients and specialty plastic colorants and additives, closed 1.4 percent above their initial public offering (IPO) price on their listing debut yesterday.

D&L, which owns listed Chemrez Technologies Inc., opened at P4.38 per share and closed at P4.36, still above the IPO price of P4.30. This gives the company a market capitalization of around P15.36 billion.

A total of 68.45 million shares worth P302.14 million changed hands yesterday.

In an interview after the listing ceremony, D&L executive vice-president Alvin D. Lao said the company is looking to book higher sales next year on the back of robust consumer spending and strong investor confidence on the local economy.

D&L is seen as an indirect consumer play since 80 percent of its revenues comes from the food ingredients business while 18 percent comes from specialty plastics, with the bulk supplied to the automotive industry.

Lao said the upcoming elections are also seen to boost the company’s product lines, particularly food.

He noted that D&L has traditionally doubled it profits in four to five years and expects this trend to continue as the economy grows at a rapid pace compared to previous years.

D&L has recently undertaken steps to boost production capacity and is currently operating at around 50 to 65 percent capacity ulitization. Its food ingredients plants have a capacity of about 300,000 tons per year while the plastics facilities can produce up to 120,000 tons per year.