12 August 2008 - Food and beverage company RFM Corporation continued to post income growth this year, increasing by 7.1% to P132.1 million net income for the first six months of 2008, from P123.3 million during the same period last year.
In its disclosure to the PSE and SEC, RFM reported that the sales of its branded consumer products managed to grow despite the uncertainties of an inflationary environment by continuing to assure the buying public of getting value for money with its products.
RFM President and CEO Jose Concepcion III said “that as RFM’s way to celebrate its 50th anniversary, we have announced that we will not increase our prices on major items like the Meaty corned beef with real American beef (175gm), Selecta Fortified milk (regular and 1-liter sizes), Mighty Meaty hotdog (1-kilo) and the Selecta ice cream (3-in-1).”
Concepcion added that “as RFM’s way to ease the effects of higher cost of wheat on flour, we have adopted and brought to commercial levels the production of Proud Harvest veggie canton noodles. It is a squash-based canton noodle developed with the Department of Science and Technology and our internal R&D group, as we aim to lower the cost in noodle-making to make the product more affordable (10-15% cheaper) while offering it as a healthier food alternative, due to the vitamins and nutrition coming from squash.”
RFM also reported strong consumer acceptance of its higher value and innovative products such as the new flavors of Sunkist Ice Tea in more convenient plastic bottles, the more affordable Selecta Moo fortified chocolate milk, the relaunch of Swift hotdogs and canned meat variants and Fiesta pasta and White King mixes, which altogether brought some excitement to a relatively weak consumer market.
RFM also reported the strong performance during the summer months of Selecta ice cream, which is under a joint venture with Unilever, and in the process further enhanced its market leadership position in ice cream. Meanwhile, RFM further reported in the disclosure that the implementation of better plant efficiencies and cost reduction programs have aided in offsetting the rising costs of domestic raw materials, freight and handling, utilities, and wages, that in turn, helped preserve operating margins.