Fruitas eyes P2-B IPO by late 2019

By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
FRUITAS Holdings, Inc. (FHI) plans to push through with its P2-billion initial public offering (IPO) by the second half of 2019 to finance its aggressive store expansion.
FHI Chief Financial Adviser Calvin F. Chua said the fund-raising activity will support the company’s plan to grow at a clip of 150 to 200 stores annually.
“We’re looking to have an IPO sometime second half of next year… The proceeds will be used for store network expansion and upgrade of our facilities, and potential acquisitions. So we’re looking to further grow inorganically,” Mr. Chua said in an interview during the company’s media event in Quezon City earlier this month.
Established in 2002 with a single cart in Manila, FHI has since grown its network to about 950 stores across more than 20 brands, including Fruitas, Johnn Lemon, Juice Avenue, The Mango Farm, Jamaican Pattie Shop, Friends Fries, and The Mango Farm, among others.
Mr. Chua said the company has a bias for food brands when looking at inorganic expansion since it already manages several beverage brands.
“(It should be) something that we can grow fast. We get a lot of offers to takeover, but first of all we look at if it’s something that can be grown fast, and something that can be open to all classes of income. Kasi all of our products right now, it can serve all income classes,” Mr. Chua explained.
Once realized, this store expansion would double FHI’s store network in the next five years.
The company led by businessman Lester C. Yu further intends to grow its food park business, with three more potential sites in Metro Manila. FHI currently operates three food parks in Quezon City, namely 150 Maginhawa Food Park, Le Village, and Cascades.
Mr. Chua said they are also planning to expand the food park business to provinces near Metro Manila, noting that the company has an advantage since its brands already have some kiosks in several provinces.
“I think if you look at what we have it’s very different from a typical food park, plus we can bring our own brands. Our brands alone would serve as anchor tenants already. And because we are tenants ourselves, they trust that we will take care of them as tenants. That’s our unique selling point,” Mr. Chua explained.
FHI has engaged First Metro Investment Corp. and BDO Capital & Investment Corp. as the underwriters for the issuance.
Mr. Chua said the company generated P1.15 billion in revenues in 2017, translating to a net income of P173 million.
“This year we’re looking to grow strong double digit (in terms of revenues)… hopefully more than 20%,” he said, while adding that FHI is on track to beat last year’s net income for 2018.