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A strong
economy and an equally strong peso helped support
Chemrez Technologies Inc. come up with a strong
financial result in the first nine month s of the year.,
The
nation’s pioneer coco-methyl ester (CME) manufacturer,
also known as ChemrezTech, said Monday it posted a net
income after tax of P353 million at the end of
September, up 572 percent from a year earlier.
Consolidated gross revenues rose 60 percent to P2.74
billion in the same comparable period.
In a
disclosure with the Philippine Stock Exchange,
ChemrezTech said that net income was boosted by
water-based solvents, paints and resins that serve as
alternative to traditional nonbiodegradable chemicals
that emit harmful gases.
Chief
financial officer Francis Caluag said year-to-date net
operating or recurring income as of end-September was
approximately 451-percent higher than the same period in
2006.
Net
income for the third quarter alone stood at P154.8
million, from P11.7 million, according to the company’s
unaudited interim financial statement.
“The
above-record growth of the domestic economy in recent
quarters continues to benefit the company,” Caluag
added.
“Consumer spending, attributable in large part to
strengthening inflows from overseas Filipinos,
translated to increased sales of intermediate raw
materials to industrial customers who are primarily
engaged in food service and processing, consumer
appliances, home furnishings, construction, soap and
detergent,” he said.
It is
expected that growth in ChemrezTech’s traditional
business lines would carry over through the final
quarter of the year. The fourth quarter is historically
favorable to the company’s financial
performance.
The
peso’s continuing strength also enabled ChemrezTech to
reduce the import costs of raw materials, helping
improve profit margins while maintaining competitive
selling prices.
The
first nine months of 2007 also provided a glimpse into
initial results of ChemrezTech’s participation in the
biofuels industry.
Five
months into the implementation of the Biofuels Act saw
coco-biodiesels and other oleochemical products
contribute about 35 percent to the company’s
consolidated revenues and about 53 percent of gross
profits.
Sales of
biofuel and other coconut oil-based products during the
third quarter rose nearly 430 percent, compared with
first quarter results.
ChemrezTech capitalized on its leading position in
cocobiodiesel to obtain an average 55-percent share of
the wholesale cocobiodiesel market that began in late
April.
Coconut
oil-based industrial products also performed better than
expected as marketing efforts started bearing fruit with
exports to leading soap and detergent multinational
customers in South and
Southeast Asia.
ChemrezTech also maintained its exports of non-fuel
grade coconut methyl ester (CME) to the Japanese market
and continues to monitor developments in that country as
it anticipates the phasing-in of the Japanese mandate
for biodiesel.
“The
Company expects its biofuel business to be anchored
primarily [to] the local market until such time that
viable export opportunities for cocobiodiesel present
themselves,” said ChemrezTech chief operating officer
Dean A. Lao Jr. |
