D&L names Karl Chua as independent director

MANILA, Philippines — D&L Industries, the chemicals and food ingredients company, has elected former socioeconomic planning secretary Karl Kendrick Chua as a member of its board of directors during its annual stockholders meeting yesterday.

Formerly with the World Bank as an economist before joining the Philippine government, Chua also served as Undersecretary for Strategy, Economics, and Results at the Department of Finance before he was appointed as NEDA chief.

With Chua as an independent director, D&L’s board has four independent directors out of seven seats. This means a majority of the board continue to be held by independent directors.

The three other independent directors are Mercedita Nolledo, Corazon de la Paz-Bernardo, and Lydia Balatbat-Echauz.

Chua has extensive experience in the areas of economic and fiscal policy, statistical development, national identification, labor and social protection policy, poverty analysis, and digital transformation, among others, D&L said.

He will succeed Filemon Berba, who served on D&L’s board since 2012 until his passing last April 4, 2023.

“We are pleased to welcome Karl to our board of directors. He brings a fresh perspective with his distinguished experience as an economist, working for the World Bank for over a decade and serving the government in various strategic leadership roles thereafter,” said D&L president and CEO Alvin Lao.

Lao said D&L is committed to upholding good governance and transparency by having independent directors holding majority of its board members.

D&L is on track to completing its Batangas plant by the middle of the year. The company’s capex is expected to start decreasing immediately once the plant is complete. This in turn, is expected to result in positive free cash flow (FCF) for the company starting this year, Lao said.

In the first quarter of 2023, the company’s FCF turned positive for the first time in two years, at P890 million.

The improvement in cash flows gives the company the financial flexibility to further reduce debt levels over time and continue paying dividends.

During its stockholders meeting, D&L announced a record dividend of P0.30 per share consisting of a regular cash dividend of P0.24 per share plus a special cash dividend of P0.06 per share to shareholders of record as of June 20.

This year’s dividend amounting to P2.14 billion or an increase of 25 percent from last year’s P1.71 billion, is equivalent to 65 percent of last year’s recurring income.

Including this year’s payment, D&L has returned a total of P15.3 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends since the IPO in 2012. The company also paid a 100 percent stock dividend in September 2015.

Lao said management remains highly committed to its dividend policy of a 50 percent payout ratio based on prior year’s net income.