Monde Nissin’s income declines 17%

MONDE Nissin Corp.’s attributable net income for the first quarter declined 16.7% to P1.94 billion due to restructuring costs in its meat substitute business Quorn, the company said on Monday.

In a disclosure, the company said its consolidated revenues for the three-month period grew by 9.6% to P20.05 billion from P18.30 billion the previous year. 

Its Asia-Pacific branded food and beverage (APAC BFB) segment saw a 13.7% increase in its topline to P16.5 billion.

Its domestic business grew by 13.4% to P15.5 billion, while its international unit posted an 18.6% jump to P1 billion, driven by growth from all its categories.

“The APAC BFB business saw strong topline growth across all of our categories during the first quarter with our noodles business, achieving double-digit quarter-on-quarter growth and volumes ahead of where we were last year,” Monde Nissin Chief Executive Officer Henry Soesanto said in a statement.

Quorn Foods, the company’s meat alternative business, reported a 6.2% decline in revenues to P3.5 billion

Monde Nissin’s business in the United Kingdom and the United States, likewise, declined by 1.9% and 33.6%, respectively, due to challenges in the retail market, while its food service unit grew by 4.6%.

Its gross profits for the period ending in March fell by 33.4% to P950 million.

“The meat alternative category continues to face strong headwinds. We are now similarly addressing our UK business, restructuring it to better weather the current category conditions while remaining agile and ready to benefit when the market for meat alternatives eventually recovers,” Mr. Soesanto added.

He said that the company is planning on an equity infusion of up to 40 million British pound sterling into their UK unit “partially paying down the existing debt to better reflect the current asset value and lower interest cost, and to cover the restructuring costs.”

Monde Nissin shares fell by 1.29% or P0.11 to P8.44 each on Monday. — Adrian H. Halili