Food firms scramble to contain bird flu scare
By Janina C. Lim
Reporter
THE Department of Agriculture’s (DA) announcement last Friday of the country’s first avian influenza outbreak in a poultry farm in San Luis, Pampanga did not see only chicken and egg prices in wet markets promptly fall — it sent big food firms scrambling on Monday to assure that their products are safe.
Monday’s top 20 losing stocks included Vitarich Corp. and San Miguel Pure Foods Company, Inc. that saw share prices fall 5.88% to P1.92 apiece and by 3.17% to P305 each, respectively. Others like Max’s Group, Inc. and Universal Robina Corp. (URC) lost 0.56% to P17.90 apiece and 0.49% to P142.30 per share.
But shares of Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC), which yesterday reported net income attributable to majority equity holders grew 18.1% annually to P1.956 billion last quarter, gained 2.59% to close P222 each.
Those compare to the 0.33% rise of the industrial sectoral index to which their shares belong and the Philippine Stock Exchange index’s own 0.43% increase yesterday.
Reynaldo D. Ortega, Vitarich vice-president and general manager for poultry and foods, said yesterday the outbreak should have “no impact at all” on operations. “Ang aming (our) operation is located in Bulacan, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija. Ang bulk ng aming production nanggagaling sa (is from) Nueva Ecija because all our tunnel-ventilated buildings are located there,” he said by phone.
DA’s temporary ban under Memorandum Circular No. 09 on the transport of poultry products from Luzon to the Visayas and Mindanao, Mr. Ortega said, “doesn’t affect our operations because we have our own breeding farm operation in Mindanao and Visayas.”
Aside from feeds, Vitarich supplies, among others, chicken to hotels, restaurants, institutional clients, as well as supermarkets and wet markets.
Vitarich, which exited corporate rehabilitation in September 2016 and is poised for quasi-reorganization next year, yesterday bared unaudited financial results showing net income rising to P49.8 million last quarter from a year-ago P2.747 million. Operating profit edged up 1.66% to P57.534 million from P56.596 million, while gross profit (sale of goods less cost of goods sold) grew 35.51% to P188.846 million from P139.360 million.
Its report said Vitarich has lined up various thrusts for this year, including expanding the poultry business by increasing breeder capacity, widening its contract grower base and continuous monitoring of dressing plant compliance with good manufacturing practices to assure good meat quality.
In a separate statement, San Miguel Pure Foods said its Magnolia Whole Chicken comes from poultry farms free of avian flu. “The company’s poultry houses utilize state-of-the-art climate controlled system and not conventional housing, that protects broilers from contact with wild birds,” the firm said. “The cool environment inside the houses provides broilers greater protection against respiratory infection and increased resistance to viruses. “
It added that, “[u]pon immediate testing,” its “farms and its broiler flocks within the vicinity of the affected area yielded negative results for avian influenza.”
URC said in a statement that its poultry layer farms are far from the affected area in Pampanga. “Nonetheless, we continue to implement strict biosecurity measures in our farms and submit our eggs to industry and government standards of testing and quality control,” URC said.
Restaurant operators JFC and Max’s separately assured customers that their products remain safe for consumption. “Our chicken supply is sourced outside Pampanga,” Max’s Deputy Compliance Officer Paul C. Cheah said via text, while JFC said in a statement that it “sources its local poultry product requirements only from accredited and reputable suppliers in the Philippines that employ the safest food practices in sourcing, manufacturing, preparation and delivery.”
Max’s yesterday reported that total comprehensive net income that went to the parent’s equity holders grew 15.2% to P149.29 million last quarter from P129.594 million a year ago, buoyed largely by a boost in restaurant sales. Income before tax rose 7.98% to P218.127 million from 202.002 million. Gross profit increased by 4.39% to P838.032 million from P802.805 milllion, as total revenues rose by 13.58% to P3.136 billion from P2.757 billlion and cost of sales climbed 17.61% toP2.298 billion from P1.954 billion. Restaurant sales alone increased by 18.46% to P2.62 billion from P2.212 billion in the same comparative quarters.
