MANILA, Philippines — Monde Nissin Corp., the listed snack foods giant, expects core net income to have grown by mid-teens for 2023 with sales expected to have hit a high single-digit year-on-year growth.
In a disclosure, Monde Nissin said core net margin in the fourth quarter of last year grew by more than 500 basis points compared to the same period the previous year.
In 2022, Monde Nissin, maker of Lucky Me! instant noodles and SkyFlakes crackers, incurred a P13 billion net loss.
Monde Nissin CEO Henry Soesanto said: “Our company’s preliminary fourth quarter results reflect the continued strength that we saw during the third quarter driven by our APA CBFB business. This led to another all-time high revenue for the quarter and for the year.
Monde Nissin’s Asia-Pacific Food and Beverage business saw strong topline growth both year-on-year and sequentially during the fourth quarter, aided by growth across all our major categories. This was driven by robust growth in noodles and beverages.
“Our noodles market share improved by 140 basis points to 67.3 percent and 380 basis points to 67.5 percent for the past 52-week and 12-week periods as of December 2023, respectively,” Monde Nissin said.
For the domestic market, Monde Nissin noted strong fourth quarter sales growth, backed by all-time high volumes, which grew by more than five percent year-on-year and two percent sequentially.
On the other hand, the company’s Meat Alternative business under the Quorn brand, continues to face challenges with a single digit decline expected for the fourth quarter.
Last November, Soesanto said he and his family would provide financial support to the company’s meat alternative business in the next 10 years to help cushion the impact of the challenges faced by the once promising, but now struggling industry.
The support will come from the family holding company MNSG Holdings Pte. Ltd.
This is aimed at reducing impairments - if there would be any - with respect to the company’s meat alternative business.
More specifically, MNSG Holdings will offer a cash top-up to Monde Nissin’s wholly owned subsidiary,
Monde Nissin Singapore Pte. Ltd. that aims to reduce the net cumulative impairment if any that the meat business, under Monde Nissin UK may incur. Monde Nissin UK is under Monde Nissin Singapore.
The cash top-up, if necessary, started on Dec. 31, 2023 and will be implemented every year thereafter up to Dec. 31, 2032.
Monde Nissin said that the UK retail market for alternative meats has remained weak and continues to affect the topline.
The company expects to provide more details on its full year 2023 results in April.