BALAI earnings jump 58% as revenues surge

Fruitas Holdings’ subsidiary Balai ni Fruitas Inc., a leading Philippine counter service bakery operator, reported a 58 percent jump in net income to ₱59 million last year from ₱37 million in 2022 on the back of industry-leading revenue growth.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said it generated revenues of ₱535 million in 2023, representing a 57 percent surge from 2022 revenues of ₱341 million.

BALAI President and CEO Lester Yu said “2023 marked significant milestones for BALAI as we passed 100 stores and the half-billion peso revenue level. We continue to maximize shareholder value by expanding intelligently and controlling our costs.

"We responded to the pandemic by acquiring Balai Pandesal and rolling out community stores and we are glad that this strategy paid off. We are now growing same store sales by earning customer loyalty and constantly improving our product offerings.

“We believe we have also barely scratched the surface in terms of provincial expansion and we have already started to build capacity to serve this market.”

Based on latest available publicly disclosed financial results, BALAI said it outperformed all other foodservice firms listed on the PSE, in terms of both revenue growth and net income margin in 2023.

These include Jollibee Foods Corporation, Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures, Max’s Group, parent Fruitas Holdings, Figaro Coffee Group, and Philippine Seven Corporation. However, most were for financial statements for the first nine months of 2023.

Balai Pandesal expands distribution in Cebu

Despite continued challenges from inflation, the company posted higher EBITDA margin and net income margin in 2023.

All of BALAI’S brands, led by Balai Pandesal, registered significant same store sales growth (SSSG) in 2023. Balai Pandesal stores increased its sales by gaining more repeat transactions among customers in the communities where they are located.