Campos-led Del Monte Pacific Ltd. on Wednesday reported a net loss of $34.2 million in the quarter ending July, wider than the year ago loss of USD13.1 million on higher interest expense and cost of production in U.S. subsidiary Del Monte Foods Inc.
The company projected further losses for the fiscal year ending April next year, likely at a reduced amount compared to this year.
“First quarter margins have increased against the fourth quarter. We are executing the priorities we have set to improve our operating and financial performance across all businesses. This is most evident in Del Monte Philippines where profitability has significantly increased,” company COO Luis Alejandro said.
“We are optimistic that the group’s performance will continue to improve, paring losses on track to a group turnaround in fiscal year 2026, with Del Monte Philippines Inc. leading the way as it bounces back in FY 2025,” he said.
Company efforts include selling some of its assets in the U.S., injecting equity through strategic partnerships to help lower leverage, cut inventory levels by 30 percent via a production cutback in the current pack season as the consolidation of its manufacturing footprint completes in the third quarter. It will also reduce its warehousing and distribution costs and its waste and inventory write offs.
“The group will continue to accelerate the resurgence of domestic and international sales of Del Monte Philippines, which is expected to do better in FY 2025 versus prior year,” the company said.
Group sales in the first quarter rose a meager 4 percent to USD536.9 million from previous year’s USD516.7 million.
The US unit accounted for 66 percent of group sales to USD357 million on strong bubble tea sales from expanded nationwide distribution and growth in broth and stock portfolio. These were offset by a slowdown in healthy snacks category sales.
DMPL incurred a net loss of USD37.2 million for the period, higher than only USD9.3 million the previous year but lower than fourth-quarter loss of USD75.2 million.
“Category dynamics continued to shift as consumers changed the way they eat and shop in response to economic uncertainty, higher average prices and changes to industry supply,” the company said.
Despite this, Del Monte claimed keeping its leading market share across traditional canned categories and fruit cup snacks.
Sales from Del Monte Philippines reached USD175.7 million, higher by 13 percent in peso terms. Sales in the Philippines total USD77.2 million, higher by 6 percent.
International sales surged 20 percent on robust exports of fresh and packaged pineapple, the company said.
