Manila, April 6 - San Miguel Corp., Southeast Asia's largest food and drinks group, said its net income in the first two months of the year rose 4 percent to 988 million pesos ($19.37 million).
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, the company said its revenues for the first two months of the year grew 8 percent to 7.78 billion pesos, largely due to contributions from its international operations.
National Foods Ltd. and Berri Ltd., two Australian companies which were acquired by San Miguel last year, brought in sales revenue totalling A$268 million in the two-month period, the company said.
Last month, San Miguel President Ramon Ang said the company expected its international operations to contribute 40 percent of group revenues this year after doubling to 35 percent last year.
The company said domestic beer, which accounts for about 17 percent of group revenues, rose 10 percent to 1.69 billion pesos from last year.
In 2005, net profit rose 3 percent to 9.15 billion pesos, despite weak domestic beer sales and higher raw material costs and taxes.
San Miguel's operations account for about 3.4 percent of Philippine gross domestic product and contribute about 5.6 percent of state tax revenues.
Shares of San Miguel Corp. were unchanged at 60.50 pesos on Thursday's close. San Miguel's B shares, which are open to foreign investors, rose 0.5 percent as the main stock index was up 1.02 percent at 2,220.37 points. ($1=51 pesos)