SAN Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc. on Friday said it will buy the maker of La Pacita biscuits and all its flour-based snack business.
Pure Foods, the food group of San Miguel, said it has entered into an intellectual-property rights-transfer agreement with Felicisimo Martinez and Co. Inc. earlier this week that seeks to buy all La Pacita’s trademarks, formulations, recipes and other intangible properties.
“The completion of the transaction is still subject to the fulfillment of certain terms and conditions,” the company said. La Pacita is in the business for over 90 years. Martinez and Co. took over the management to further expand the market of the maker of other brands, such as Pacensia, Butter Cookies and Raisin Cookies. Despite economic challenges, the company continued to show signs of growth with the introduction of Snax and Supreme Flakes in the market.
This is the first time Pure Foods, which claims leadership in the flour market, will enter the biscuits market in the Philippines. Pure Foods reported a flat income during the three quarters of the year at P2.7 billion.
Revenues, on the other hand, grew by 4 percent to P74.4 billion, from last year’s P71.41 billion, with the growth mainly coming from agro, flour-milling and dairy businesses.
Operating income grew 18 percent to P4.3 billion, as favorable selling prices, lower wheat costs and improved availability of key raw materials resulted in better margins for the said three sectors, tempering the adverse impact of the Manila port congestion and Typhoon Glenda on operations.
The agro and milling businesses, which make Bmeg Feeds, Magnolia chicken, Monterey meats and Baron and King flour, delivered a combined revenue growth of 7 percent on account of higher volumes and better selling prices.
“Sales volumes of Magnolia chicken would have been much higher had it not been for Typhoon Glenda, which affected its broiler supply in the third quarter,” the company said.