SMC sees F&B recovery as lockdown rules ease

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Corp., the country’s diversified conglomerate, is seeing a recovery in its food and beverage businesses following the reopening of the economy.

SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said with the government’s easing of restrictions on transportation, SMC is recovering a lot of lost ground.

“Recovery started around the second half of May to June, when the government gradually restarted our economy and kept it going,” Ang said.

SMC’s food and beverage arm San Miguel Food and Beverage Inc. (SMFB) reported a 20 percent drop in net income in the first quarter to P5.8 billion.

San Miguel Brewery also posted lower net earnings of P3.7 billion in the first quarter, down 44 percent.

Profit of Ginebra San Miguel declined by 24 percent during the period to P474 million.

Ang said consumption is regaining traction and is helping smaller businesses which are part of SMC’s supply chain.

“With consumption up, many of our own employees and those of our partners, dealers, suppliers, contract growers, and service providers are working again. On top of that, nationwide, a lot of micro, small, to medium enterprises—from sari-sari stores, retailers, bottle collectors, haulers, and the like—are also able to resume their business and livelihood. This helps ensure that more Filipinos won’t go hungry and are more resilient to the impact of this crisis,” Ang said.

SMFB has interests in beer and non-alcoholic beverages, food and spirits.

San Miguel Brewery is looking at better business performance in the second half.

GSMI’s volumes have also increased since more areas transitioned from modified enhanced community quarantine to general community quarantine.

“From practically zero business activity in April, it was able to turn in record monthly volumes in June,” SMC said.

Ang said SMC’s other businesses have also recovered.

“It’s not just our food and beverage businesses that are starting to recover. Even power, infrastructure, fuels, have started seeing improvements in their industries,” said Ang.

Ang, however, said until there is a cure for the virus, there will always be uncertainty for the business team.

However, he assured stakeholders that SMC is fully committed to helping boost the economy. He announced that all of SMC’s major investments in manufacturing capacity expansion and infrastructure would continue, despite the crisis.

“Right now, the most important contribution we can make to our economy is to ensure continued operations and not hold back on new investments, particularly in manufacturing capacities and infrastructure. These will generate jobs and boost both the local and national economies, making more Filipinos resilient through crises,” Ang said.