D&L Industries’ income jumps 22% to P891M

D&L Industries, Inc. recorded a 22% increase in its net income to P851 million in the second quarter after booking higher sales due to eased mobility restrictions.

“We are on track to at least hit if not exceed [our] pre-Covid high, which was in 2018,” D&L Industries President and Chief Executive Officer Alvin D. Lao said in the company’s first half media briefing.

The company’s sales climbed by 79% to P12.33 billion in the second quarter.

Year to date, the company’s net income rose to P1.63 billion, 17% higher than the recorded net income in the first half of last year. Sales rose by 61% to P22.32 billion in the first half.

In 2018, the company registered a P1.53-billion net income in the first half, 7% lower than this year’s record.

In the first semester of 2022, exports contributed 34% of the company’s sales, higher by 1% than the level a year ago.

Oleochemicals made up 23% of D&L Industries’ exports while its food segment contributed 65% to the total.

Meanwhile, the company spent P660 million in capital expenditure (capex) in the second quarter and a total of P1.63 billion in the first half.

“We expect by this year [that] the capex will be lower than what we spent last year,” Mr. Lao said.

Capital spending last year reached P3.18 billion, which Mr. Lao described as the company’s peak, thus figures in succeeding years will be lower.

“It means that in a couple of years we will be back to that low capex level, so it means a lot of free cash flow will be released,” Mr. Lao said, pertaining to the company’s 2017 to 2018 spending budget.

He said that for the rest of the year, the company is expected to spend no more than P1 billion to P1.1 billion.

By January 2023, D&L Industries will open its biggest project, First Industrial Township in Tanauan, Batangas. 

The expansion project will sit on a 26-hectare property at the special economic zone, and will house plant-specific buildings, machineries, and equipment.

D&L Industries’ principal business activities include manufacturing of customized food ingredients, specialty raw materials for plastics, and oleochemicals for personal and home care use. 

On the stock market on Wednesday, shares in D&L Industries declined by 1.14% or P0.08 to P6.91 apiece. — Justine Irish DP. Tabile