Del Monte debuts at PSE in 1st dual listing by Phl firm

MANILA, Philippines - Del Monte Pacific Ltd. (DMPL), controlled by condiments king Joselito D. Campos Jr., listed by way of introduction at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) yesterday, banking on increasing the footprint of its branded business here and abroad.

DMPL, which became the first company to list in both the Philippine and Singapore bourses, however, succumbed to selling pressure as its shares sank 8.72 percent to P27.20 yesterday.

The food and beverage firm listed 1.297 billion common shares by way of introduction, which allows a firm to join the PSE without having to sell shares to the public immediately.

Principal shareholders NutriAsia Pacific Ltd. sold 150 million shares existing at P26.40 for a total transaction value of P3.96 billion. NutriAsia’s shares were trimmed to 67 percent from 78.6 percent.

“Investors would welcome another consumer stock in the PSE, which has been traditionally dominated by conglomerates and financial companies,” DMPL CFO Ignacio Sison said.

DMPL’s listing price was P29.80 based on the closing price in the Singapore Stock Exchange last Friday. Its shares opened at P30 apiece.

The company earlier said the dual listing will widen its investor base and increase the company’s market visibility.

In the next few years, the export of fresh and processed pineapple products will account for 50 percent of total turnover, which so far relies mostly on Philippine sales, said Sison.

“The biggest opportunity for us is S&W,” DMPL chief operating officer Luis Alejandro added.

Alejandro said S&W, which was acquired in 2007, will focus on markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East for the next three years amid weak demand in Europe.

“We have a footprint to grow our business internationally,” Alejandro said, adding that S&W has a big upside for fresh and processed pineapples.

So far, S&W accounts a little less than 10 percent of DMPL’s total sales.

The 23,000-hectare Del Monte plantation in Mindanao is the world’s largest fully integrated pineapple operation with a 750,000-metric ton (MT) processing capacity. It was set up in 1926 by the US government because of the widespread pineapple disease in Hawaii.

Alejandro said DMPL is currently operating at a 600,000-MT capacity but improvements are expected in land productivity and recovery of pineapples in the plant processing stage.

Locally, DMPL aims to expand local consumption and market share in its categories.