SMC glass unit profits up 40%

In a company statement, San Miguel chairman and chief executive Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. said, “Fuso molds intends to sustain, if not exceed, its financial gains in 2002,” citing the robust financial results for the quarter. The earnings announcement, the first this year, was made under new disclosure rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bureau of Internal Revenue, a San Miguel spokesman said earlier.

Brisk orders for glass-mold sets lifted sales volumes by seven percent and brought up revenues by eight percent to P33.5 million. Lower input costs raised gross profits by 19 percent to P15.3 million and enhanced its gross margins by 10 percent. A 6-percent decline in overhead likewise enhanced operating margins to 27 percent from 21 percent. Fuso Molds, a joint venture between San Miguel and Japanese firms Nihon Yamamura Glass Co. Ltd. and Fuso Machine Molds and Manufacturing Corp., mostly supplies the requirements of San Miguel’s packaging business. In turn, San Miguel’s five manufacturing facilities in the Philippines produce glass containers mostly for its beverage business, as well as food, pharmaceuticals, personal care industries and chemical industries.

Last year the unit achieved a 15-percent growth in net income to P25.5 million from 22.2 million the previous year, which Cojuangco credited to cost-containment efforts and improved working- capital management. Operating income grew 14 percent to P33.4 million, as did revenues, which stood at P130.7 million.