ALLIANCE Select Foods International, Inc. secured the green light from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to undergo an equity restructuring that would wipe out the company’s deficit.

In a statement issued Wednesday, Alliance Select said it will be reducing the par value of its shares to 50 centavos apiece from P1 each. The company will then apply the resulting additional paid-in capital (APIC) to its retained earnings deficit as of May 31, 2017.

“We are very pleased to receive SEC’s approval of the equity restructuring as this will improve the Company’s financial profile and optimize its performance moving forward,” the company said.

Alliance Select earlier said that the equity restructuring program will put them in a position to declare dividends.

“The approved equity restructuring program does not affect the company’s number of outstanding shares and will not affect a stockholder’s ownership interest in FOOD. The same simply wipes out the deficit with the use of APIC as of May 31, 2017,” the company said.

Incorporated in 2003, Alliance Select is a homegrown seafood company that distributed products in foreign markets such as Europe, the United States, Japan, and the Middle East.

Alliance Select swung to an attributable profit in the first nine months of 2017 to $414,000, against an attributable loss of $2.26 million in the same period in 2016. This followed a 16% increase in revenues to $53.16 million.

Prior to this, the company has been incurring net losses since 2013. Alliance Select reported an attributable net loss of $6.39 million in 2015, and attributable net loss of $5.96 million in 2016.

Shares in Alliance Select jumped 5.36% or three centavos to finish at 59 centavos apiece at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday. – Arra B. Francia