LISTED Alliance Select Foods International Inc. said its wholly owned subsidiary Spence and Co., a US-based smoked salmon processer, recently paid a cash dividend of $600,000.

Alliance Select acquired Spence in August for $8.5 million, for an investment yield of about 7 percent.

Joey Roxas, president of stock brokerage firm Eagle Equities Inc., said the dividend payout suggests that Alliance Select acquired Spence at a bargain. Spence booked $11.3 million in net sales last year and is considered “debt free.”  

“As Spence plans to introduce more high-margin products and expand its client base, the parent company expects the subsidiary’s profitability to continue growing and provide it with healthy returns,” Alliance Select said in its disclosure.

In August, Alliance Select said it is borrowing $4.5 million from two Philippine banks to partly fund the acquisition of Spence. It also raised P272.27 million from a stock rights offering this year to help fund the purchase.

Shares of Alliance Select jumped 5.94 percent to P1.07 each on Wednesday.