Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. on Tuesday drew a best-case scenario in which the enterprise was likely to replicate and match its 2022 performance under fiscal year 2023.
SMC president Ramon S. Ang expressed this optimism at the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting where he acknowledged that above-target inflation, rising interest rates and shifts in crude oil prices continue to challenge their ability to meet their performance targets.
The above-cited challenges are separate from equally daunting events as lower-than-anticipated food and power demand this year which are areas the conglomerate derive much of its profitability.
“But despite all of that and because the company is doing everything it can, our first quarter is still good,” Ang told shareholders.
He particularly noted that 2022 was an election year whose financial impact showed in the revenue reports of the various SMC units.
So, if we can at least match the previous year’s performance, I think we should be thankful,” Ang said.
In 2022, San Miguel reported net income falling 44 percent to P26.76 billion from the previous year’s P48.16 billion.
Excluding the impact of foreign exchange adjustments and the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act, SMC generated net income of only P43.21 billion, an eight percent decline the previous year’s P47.04 billion.
Last year, SMC posted revenues reaching P1.5 trillion or 60 percent higher than only P941.19 billion the year prior.
In the first three months this year, SMC net income rose 27 percent to P17.73 billion from the previous year’s P13.94 billion on strong sales across its businesses.
Revenues rose 9 percent to P346.72 billion from P316.76 billion, bolstered by higher volume generated by Petron Corp., San Miguel Brewery Inc. and SMC Infrastructure.
“Our strong first-quarter results reflect our commitment to execute well on our strategic priorities as we navigated through a very challenging environment. With raw material prices expected to stabilize, we are confident we can deliver an even better performance in the coming months,” Ang said.
