Chemical firm D and L Industries Inc. (DNL) was ranked second by publication Campden FB’s Top 50 Global Challengers, a list of family businesses with impressive growth rates and turnover of between $200 million and $6 billion.
DNL was one of the two Philippine companies featured on the list, in line with this year’s theme of fast-growing midsized companies.
The other one is billionaire Enrique Razon, chairman of port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc.
“It’s an honor to be mentioned alongside such outstanding business families from all around the world,” said Alvin Lao, the company’s president and CEO.
“Our first generation were entrepreneurs who built a strong foundation for our business. We, in the second generation, are working hard to keep that spirit alive, as evidenced by our company-wide focus on research and development and innovation. Going forward, we want to set the right framework for our business to prosper beyond the third and even fourth generations,” he added.
Lao, together with second-generation managing directors Dean Lao Jr., Lester Lao and Vincent Lao were also included in Campden FB’s list of Top 50 Family Business Leaders of 2017.
Campden FB, formerly Families in Business, is a London-based magazine that covers family businesses across the world. In its 70th special-edition copy, the magazine featured a list of top 50 family-business leaders making a mark in different parts of the globe.
Campden FB evaluated the featured leaders on the basis of criteria, such as adherence to exceptional corporate governance and succession planning, outstanding entrepreneurial talent in the context of the family business and crucial contribution to the successful running of the business.
DNL is the country’s largest manufacturer of specialty food ingredients, plastics and chemical products, with its net income growing annually by 17 percent since its 2012 public listing.
The company declared on Thursday a regular cash dividend of P0.185 per share, plus a special cash dividend of P0.05 per share, to shareholders of record as of July 27.
In total, shareholders will receive P0.235 dividends per share, or a dividend yield of 1.9 percent, based on July 12’s close of P12.60. This year’s dividend, amounting to P1.68 billion, or an increase of 18 percent from last year’s P1.43 billion, is equivalent to 64 percent of last year’s recurring income.
Last year the company’s recurring net income reached P2.6 billion, up 15-percent year-on-year (YoY) from P2.28 billion, on the back of higher sales volume across all business segments. For the first quarter of the year, its net income increased by 15-percent YoY to P663 million, from P575.92 million.