Inflation may spoil momentum — Monde

Monde Nissin Corp. announced a 7.2 percent growth to P18.3 billion first-quarter consolidated revenue from around P17 billion a year ago due to the strong performance of its Asia-Pacific Branded Food and Beverage (APAC BFB).

“While we had a strong start to the year and remain optimistic about the continuation of the growth we are seeing, commodity inflation remains a concern for our APAC BFB business and it is something that we will proactively respond to as the year progresses,” Monde Nissin CEO Henry Soesanto said.

“We are working hard to continually improve our efficiency and be mindful of our consumers when price increases become warranted, striving to maintain our growth momentum and recovering margin where possible,” he added.

Core income down

Based on its unaudited financial results for the first quarter, core net income attributable to shareholders decreased by 13.5 percent to P2.1 billion, while reported net income ended almost unchanged at P2.3 billion.

Monde Nissin said it benefited from lower interest expense due to the repayment of the Arran convertible note and bank loans in 2021.

APAC BFB net sales from January to March increased by 8.6 percent to P14.5 billion due to the improving performance of the domestic business, which grew 10.5 percent to P13.7 billion on price increases and continued volume growth for the noodles, culinary, and packaged cake categories.

Biscuits also posted volume growth to pre-pandemic level. Meanwhile, the international business declined 15.4 percent to P854 million due to shipping constraints during the quarter.