August 31, 2005

San Miguel's poultry division posts 14 percent sales growth

San Miguel's (SM) poultry division registered a 14 percent rise in sales revenue to 9.1 billion pesos (US$161.62 million) for the first seven months this year. It also managed to up sales volume by 11 percent despite higher cost of raw materials.

The division makes up more than a quarter of the whole San Miguel Food Group's revenue.

SM partly attributed the division's good performance to operational improvements. For example, more high technology-such as controlled climate or tunnel-ventilated system-was applied in its chicken farms, which resulted in better feed-conversion ratio and lower mortality rates.

This, in turn, contributed to the revenue growth.

Marketing activities also led to increased sales of poultry products. SM recently set up Magnolia Chicken Stations in major supermarkets across the Philippines in an effort to up chicken consumption.

The company now expects its poultry division's performance to continue boosting San Miguel Food Group's bottomline till the end of year, especially since the bird flu threat in the country has been eliminated.