Balai ni Fruitas Inc., the bakery and beverage arm of business magnate Lester Yu’s Fruitas Holdings, reported a more than 10-fold jump in its nine month earnings as revenues soared amid a growing store network.
Balai ni Fruitas said net income reached P23.2 million from January to September, significantly higher than the P2.3 million recorded last year.
Revenues skyrocketed to P234.1 million from P88.6 million, largely driven by the ongoing store network expansion of the Balai Pandesal brand, which has already grown to 43 stores from only five at the time of acquisition in June last year.
It has so far opened seven new Balai Pandesal stores located in various locations within Metro Manila and Metro Cebu in the second half of the year.
Balai Pandesal products have been made available in more than 20 community stores within the Fruitas Holdings network, allowing its distribution in a very cost-efficient manner.
“We have significantly grown the Balai Pandesal brand in just over a year since our acquisition. We aim to make Balai Pandesal the leading mid-priced community bakery in the country,” said Yu, president and CEO of Balai.
“The IPO has provided the company sufficient resources to further accelerate expansion and grow our capacity and product offerings,” he added.
Balai as of last month has 91 active stores nationwide, of which 43 stores are Balai Pandesal, 39 are Buko Ni Fruitas stores, and nine are Fruitas House of Desserts stores.
“We are optimistic with the last quarter of the year and we hope to conclude the year on a high note by encouraging our customers to have Balai products as part of their festivities,” Yu said.
