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Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines, Inc. (PCPPI)—the exclusive manufacturer of PepsiCo beverages in the country—bounced back and improved its growth trajectory despite the imposition of various community quarantines last year.

During its recent Annual Stockholders’ Meeting, PCPPI posted P34.6 billion in revenues, P5.2 billion in gross profit, and P1.9 billion in EBITDA or Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization in 2020.

PCPPI president and chief executive officer Frederick D. Ong considers these results as “firm and strong numbers.” The company credited its good financial standing to its ability to deliver planned projects with managed resources. Additionally, the company improved line productivity and efficiency, hence, they controlled their fixed costs down to 33% by the end of 2020.

At the same time, its products did well in the market as Gatorade maintained its leadership and Sting grew its share. PCPPI also successfully launched Mountain Dew Ice last year, and Pepsi Go early this year.

All these efforts led to new opportunities for PCPPI such as securing 10 new corporate accounts despite many food businesses and restaurants scaling down in 2020. Given the effect of the global pandemic on businesses, “PCPPI found a way to succeed through sheer hard work, perseverance, and dedication,” he said.

With these developments, PCPPI saw “promising first quarter 2021 figures, with net operating profit before tax P144 million above target and net operating cash flow P191 million ahead of commitment.”

Transformative Initiatives

In 2020, PCPPI decided to embark on several transformative initiatives to ride out the impact of the health crisis. “PCPPI did not only adapt but also thrived in the new normal. When most companies feared to move forward, PCPPI chose to make big moves and transform,” Ong added.

Earlier this year, PCPPI opened a new line in Santo Tomas, Batangas to expand its polyethylene terephthalate or PET bottle production by 30%. PCPPI also focused on improving its digital infrastructure by completing its Enterprise Management System, which effectively integrated eight core business procedures, 18 business units, and more than 100 locations into a single platform. The digital transformation continued with the company launching its online selling platform, pepsiproducts.ph, which allowed PCPPI to reach more household consumers and potential distributors.

“Digitization has already become a standard requirement for businesses to thrive, especially in this time when we are physically distanced from one another. PCPPI will continue with its digital transformation to further position itself to meet customer demands faster and easier,” Ong said.

Zero in on sustainability

The impact of the pandemic drove PCPPI to focus on bettering its sustainability practices.

“We recognized early on that we need to be part of the solution in healing our planet. In 2020, we reaffirmed our sustainability commitments and targets, and worked on concrete ways to reduce our environmental impact,” said Ong.

True to its sustainability promise, PCPPI reduced its water and energy consumption, “making sure that we only take enough resources to sustain our operations,” Ong added. In fact, the company reported that it reused and recycled as much as 26 million gallons of water in 2020. PCPPI also started its shift to renewable energy by installing solar panels at its Batangas, Cebu, and Davao plants.

For its plastic footprint, the company performed packaging innovations and material lightweighting to reduce its virgin plastic use by as much as 76 metric tons.

The company’s sustainability efforts did not go unnoticed. Last year, PCPPI was awarded the Sustainability Rising Star at the 2020 Asia Corporate Excellence & Sustainability (ACES) Awards held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Bravehearts

Despite suffering a financial loss in the first half of 2020, PCPPI retained its whole workforce which it refers to as Bravehearts.

“As we move forward, we carry the Bravehearts with us. The pandemic did not stop us from developing and engaging our people, though with some challenges,” he said. Still, PCPPI continued its employee development programs virtually. “We believe that investing in talent is a guaranteed way to make our business profitable and sustainable,” Ong added.

The company also initiated communication campaigns on topics relating to COVID-19, mental health, and overall wellness. These are on top of the basic provision of safety gears, supplies, additional COVID leaves, COVID tests, temporary housing, shuttle services, and additional meal allowances for its employees.

PCPPI also committed to vaccinating all willing employees for their long-term safety. In a tripartite agreement with a vaccine manufacturer and the government, known as “A Dose of Hope,” PCPPI secured 20,000 vaccine doses expected to arrive in the third quarter of 2021.

While awaiting vaccine arrival, the company encouraged its employees to get themselves vaccinated through their local government units, following the inoculation of the A4 sector. “We believe that together with the government, we can help fast-track the inoculation program and revive the economy to pre-pandemic levels sooner,” Ong said.