Century Pacific Food Inc., together with Feeding Metro Manila and Philippine Food Bank, gave Choco Hero chocolate malt milk drinks to the kids and their families in the towns of Burgos, Dapa, Del Carmen, General Luna, Pilar, San Benito, San Isidro, Santa Monica, and Socorro in the province of Siargao.

As part of the company’s advocacy to provide good tasting and nutritious drinks, Choco Hero is packed with vitamins and nutrients that will help boost the kids’ immunity and energy to face their daily activities. With the #Chocomaltsarap taste of Choco Hero, this chocolate malt milk drink is perfect for breakfast and even for merienda.

Choco Hero is available for purchase in Lazada, Shopee and at select supermarket and grocery stores nationwide.

Century Pacific Food, Inc. (PSE:CNPF), one of the Philippines’ leading branded food and beverage companies, accelerates in the third quarter of the year. Net income in 3Q is up 22% versus the same period last year, pulling up year-to-date bottomline growth to 21%. These results are driven by double-digit sales growth in the third quarter and favorable tax rates.
Consolidated revenues clock in at P41.1B for the nine-month period, a growth of 12% year-on-year. Third quarter sales gain momentum as the Branded segment picks up the pace with a 13% growth versus the same period last year. The Branded business — comprising the majority of CNPF’s revenues — continues to be driven by the resilience in demand for consumer staples.
CNPF’s OEM Exports business continues to see a surge in sales, posting a growth of 49% for the third quarter versus prior year and 20% quarter-on-quarter. The Company attributes this growth to the faster reopening of global markets.

Chad Manapat, CNPF’s Chief Financial Officer, stated, “Consumer sentiment has been impacted by the ongoing pandemic. Thus, they continue to prioritize consumer staples and affordable goods. As a result, our core segments and value-for-money portfolio are demonstrating robust performance.”

Manapat continued, “Shifts in consumer behavior are proving sticky. Consumers continue to cook and dine at home, gravitating towards market leaders and trusted brands. All these are favorable to our business, given the essentials and staples nature of our portfolio and market-leading positions. Improving customer service level is also behind these topline results.”
In terms of profitability, CNPF’s net income lands at P4.0B for the nine-month period, growing by 21% year-on-year despite cost pressures. Year-to-date gross margin stands at 24.4%, softening, as expected, by 130bps versus the comparable period last year due to the general rise in input prices globally. Operating expenses as a percentage of sales drops by 30bps, leading to a flattish EBITDA margin at 14.3%.

CNPF continues to benefit from favorable tax rates due to the implementation of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) law and an income tax holiday on its new tuna plant. Year-to-date effective tax rates are at 16.1%, down by 710 bps versus that same period last year.

“Overall, we are pleased with the results of the past nine months,” said Manapat. “Despite the challenges this year, we have been able to post a healthy bottomline, giving us room to reinvest in innovations and capacity expansion, which will, in turn, generate quality manufacturing jobs.”

CNPF continuously demonstrates healthy cashflow generation with operating cashflows amounting to P2.1B. This allowed CNPF to fund the 50% increase in capacity for its coconut facility, the commissioning of a 5.2 MW solar PV plant for its tuna and coconut facilities, and a string of new innovations.

The Company has recently launched two new brand innovations — its venture into the fast-growing Pet Food category through a new brand called ‘Goodest’ and its Dairy portfolio expansion into the Chocolate Malt segment via new brand, ‘Choco Hero’.

These new businesses come at a time where CNPF is just kickstarting the global rollout of ‘unMEAT’, the Company’s entry into the nascent Plant-based Meat Alternatives category.

Manapat said, “At Century, we maintain a robust pipeline of new products because we view innovation and diversification as the key to unlocking long-term growth. We are hopeful that these new product launches will eventually become major building blocks of the business.”

“We are now at the homestretch, grateful for the strong results posted thus far. We continue to expect that CNPF will end the year with a topline growth between 10 to 15% and a bottomline growth closer to 20%,” Manapat concluded.

Century Pacific Food, Inc. (PSE:CNPF), one of the leading food and beverage companies in the Philippines, expands its Dairy portfolio, entering the chocolate malt segment with a new brand called ‘Choco Hero’.

‘Choco Hero’ is a choco malt milk drink for kids, full of vitamins and minerals that boost strength, mental alertness, and energy.

Christopher Po, CNPF’s Executive Chairman said, “We see a lot of opportunities in driving innovation in the dairy space. Milk is a prime source of nutrition, yet the Philippines’ per capita consumption of milk is less than 10% than that of more developed countries.”

CNPF is one of the major players in the Philippine dairy market, playing in both beverage and culinary spaces. Its flagship brand, Birch Tree Fortified, focuses on affordable dairy nutritionals by providing immunity-boosting vitamins and minerals. The Choco Hero brand, on the other hand, plays in the energy-boosting space as a choco malt milk drink.

Pyrus dela Cruz, CNPF’s Vice President and General Manager for Milk, said, “Accessibility is still one of the biggest challenges for this category, especially nowadays. Our consumers have been in this pandemic for two years. It’s imperative for key players to make dairy products more affordable.”

‘Choco Hero’ is now available in leading supermarkets and sari-sari stores nationwide. It comes in family-size and single servings, with a starting price of only P5.00. This is CNPF’s most affordable product yet.

The launch of ‘Choco Hero’ is the latest among CNPF’s recent string of innovations, coming at the heels of the Company’s forays into emerging categories such as pet food and plant-based alternatives.

Christopher Po, CNPF’s Executive Chairman said, “Developing relevant innovations, especially for our emerging businesses, is central to our growth strategy. It is important that we build these new pillars to continuously diversify our revenue streams and, ultimately, future-proof our company.”

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