Fruitas swings to profitability with P82-M net income

FRUITAS Holdings, Inc. reported on Tuesday a consolidated net income of P82.36 million in 2022, a reversal of its net loss of P16.32 million incurred in the prior year.

The company’s attributable earnings reached P77.24 million, turning around from the net loss it previously reported the prior year.

“The exceptional performance of the entire Fruitas Holdings Group in 2022 inspires [us] to do even better in the coming years,” said Fruitas President and Chief Executive Officer Lester C. Yu in a disclosure.

Revenues increased by 63.6% to P1.8 billion from P1.1 billion the previous year driven by higher same-store sales growth during the year.

“Despite having just over 770 stores as of end-2022, compared to more than 1,000 stores as of end-2019, [Fruitas] already achieved 92.5% of 2019 pre-pandemic revenues in 2022,” the company said.

It said that revenues for 2022 did not include contributions from its newly acquired restaurant brand Ling Nam, which was completed in March 2023. The acquisition included Ling Nam’s trademark, recipes, equipment, store improvements, and inventory from the previous owner.

Fruitas’ earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization amounted to P287 million, more than double the P131 million booked the previous year.

“We were able to unlock the value of [Balai Ni Fruitas Inc.] via listing. We expect all Fruitas brands to perform better this year and we will strongly invest in our recent acquisitions, Balai Pandesal and Ling Nam, to achieve our growth targets,” Mr. Yu added.

Balai debuted on the Philippine Stock Exchange in 2022 with 1.49 billion primary and secondary shares listed on the small, medium, and emerging board at P0.70 apiece.

On Tuesday, Fruitas shares closed unchanged at P1.12 each. — Adrian H. Halili