Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines, Inc. (PCPPI)—the exclusive manufacturer of PepsiCo beverages in the country—outperformed its 2019 targets as disclosed in its 2019 Annual and Sustainability Report (ASR), dubbed Win the Game. During its first virtual Annual Stockholders’ Meeting held on August 20, 2020, PCPPI Directors and Management, led by its Chairman Oscar S. Reyes and President and CEO Frederick D. Ong, presented the company’s performance in the past year.

PCPPI reported a 4% increase in gross sales or a total of Php 40.1 billion last year. Consequently, its gross profit improved by 19% or the equivalent of Php 6.8 billion in 2019. PCPPI was also able to turnaround its net profit to positive figures in 2019, coming from a loss in 2018 to a gain of almost Php 300 million last year.

The company credited its good financial performance to its effective economic spending, management of manufacturing costs, and improvements on operations.

“The 2019 financial gains were products of operational efficiencies. PCPPI realized this early on and steered the business towards greater optimization of our work systems by establishing the Strategic Supply Chain and Operations (SSCO)—an alignment strategy across all functions that touched the supply chain process thereby, creating better value for our stakeholders,” said PCPPI President Frederick Ong during his report.

Ong added, “These financial wins were brought about by our key achievements in 2019. We have introduced new product line in our Gatorade portfolio, Gatorade Ion – an expansion in our healthy beverage line and revitalized our marketing of Gatorade with the ‘Gatorade Win as One’ Campaign.”

According to the ASR, the “Gatorade Win as One” marketing campaign, led to a 2% growth in the company’s financials and has further cemented Gatorade as the leading hydration drink in the market.

Adding to these milestones is PCPPI’s launch of two new size variants (1.75 and 2.25mL) for more quantity options.


Sustainability growth

As the company maintains its growth momentum, it allocated Php 100.3 Million to support its Sustainability initiatives in 2019. It also developed its three Sustainability Pillars—Circular Economy, Water Stewardship, and Inclusive Business—consistent with PepsiCo’s 2025 sustainability vision of 20% reduction in fuel and electricity usage, 25% reduction in water usage, and 35% reduction in virgin plastic content in its plastic packaging.

“PCPPI’s sustainability framework serves as the guide for all our employees as we constantly refine our practices to contribute to PepsiCo’s global initiative,” said Ong.

For Circular Economy, PCPPI reported the completion of all its materials recovery facilities and successfully recycled 81% of in-plant solid waste, putting the company on track with its 85% goal by 2020. PCPPI also partnered with Elsie Gaches and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to turn its waste materials into items of value, including upcycling of carboys, drums, and other non-hazardous wastes. With these resource management efforts, the company reported to have saved Php 108 Million and reduced its carbon footprint production by 450 MT across all plants.

For Water Stewardship, PCPPI adopted six water bodies and conducted a study on watersheds as a more sustainable water source solution in Muntinlupa City, where its headquarter is located. The company also highlighted water stewardship projects such as knowledge sharing on sanitation and prudent water use among its external stakeholders and the turnover of a 50,000-liter water tank servicing 1,000 families and 40,000 Internally Displaced People (IDPs) for its Water for Peace in Marawi program.

For its Inclusive Business pillar, the company created more than 7,000 jobs for its partner sari-sari stores, through the company’s Entrepreneurship Distribution System, and organized projects that tackled education, diversity, and disaster resilience, through the company’s Bukluran Councils or employee-volunteers.

Moving forward

Ong also reported how PCPPI successfully dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, especially during the early stages of the government-imposed lockdowns by developing three main guiding principles.

“The first is to help our employees cope safely during the ECQ/lockdown period. Second, to take action to support our community and partners across the country, and the third is to remain responsible in delivering our obligation in service to the Filipino people,” shared Ong.

For its employees, PCPPI ensured a safer work environment that included flexible work arrangements such as work from home, skeleton workforce, and telsell or phone sales, advanced payouts of the monthly salaries and 13th month pay among others. This safety-focus for its employees also included PPE and alcohol provisions as well as continuous health and safety advisories to guide PCPPI employees who were already reporting for work.

Despite the growing number of unemployment in the country and the scaling down of numerous businesses, the company proudly announced that it did not layoff any employee and kept its entire workforce.

“I am proud to say that in PCPPI, no one was let go, no one had to suffer losing his job. Proudly we kept all our Bravehearts, because it is with them and through them that our PCPPI will continue to succeed,” remarked Ong.

Likewise, as part of its COVID-19 response, the company donated more than 165,000 bottles or around 9,000 cases of assorted drinks to hospitals and quarantine facilities and lent more than a hundred tents to LGUs for their checkpoints nationwide.

To ensure non-stop services to PCPPI customers, distributors, and suppliers, the company provided skeleton manning and engaged in community partnerships while guaranteeing the safety of its employees and consumers.

Due to the impact of the pandemic to the company’s operations and finances, PCPPI reported that it drove down cost by 7% and rationalized planned capital investments by 18% in 2020. Despite these measures, the company was able to fully support the demands of its customers and consumers and was able to keep its stock levels intact.

“Amidst the pandemic, we at PCCPI are steadfast in achieving our goals and are poised to reach bigger milestones as we started planning for the years ahead. As the new President and CEO, my first ever priority work was to put in place our strategic agenda and growth targets, with a firm emphasis on healthy financials, complete portfolio management, people development, stronger delivery on quality, productivity, health and regulatory compliance,” Ong added.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has put us all in a break, which I believe was necessary to gain introspection. And with introspection, we learned to see better. We at PCCPI, are positive that we will see this pandemic through and we will come out of it stronger with a united management, dedicated employees, and supportive partners. We know that with our resiliency as a nation, our business, the industry and our economy will eventually recover,” Ong said.