Century Pacific Food Inc., the country’s largest canned food company, said it will be added in the highly-tracked FTSE Global Equity Index Series for Asia Pacific excluding Japan starting on March 20.
CNPF said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the company would be listed under FTSE Index’s Small Cap and AllCap categories.
The company’s inclusion in the FTSE Global Equity Index Series is the result of a semi-annual review on more than 7,400 securities in 47 different countries.
FTSE indexes serve as performance benchmarks and help in the creation of a broad range of financial products, including index tracking funds, derivatives and exchange traded funds.
“We will continue to share our investment story as we believe that the Philippine growth story remains alive and well,” said CNPF chief finance officer Oscar Pobre.
“Even as we face a more challenging environment this year, we remain positive on our company’s long-term prospects,” he said.
Share price of CNPF jumped 4 percent to P17.36 Monday.
CNPF made its debut in the MSCI Philippine Small Cap Index on May 31, 2016. Owned by the Po-family, the company is engaged in the development, marketing and distribution of processed fish, meat, dairy and coconut.
It maintains market leadership locally in the canned fish and canned meat segments, while actively growing its presence in canned and powdered milk.The company is also the Philippines’ leading exporter of private label tuna and coconut products.
The company is looking to further expand its branded exports business after it recently acquired distribution companies in China.
It also purchased the license for the Kamayan trademark in North America, one of the top names in the US market for shrimp paste – a popular condiment in Philippine cuisine.
The canned food company chalked up a net income of P2.16 billion in the first nine months of 2016, up by 44.4 percent from a year ago, on sustained growth in its branded food business.
Nine-month revenues also went up 22 percent to P21 billion.