Posted on
March 26, 2013 10:59:20 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
FISH CANNER
Alliance Select Foods International, Inc. has converted its eight-hectare
property in General Santos City into a government-registered ecozone that will
allow it as well as future locators to enjoy fiscal and non-incentives.
In a
disclosure yesterday, Alliance Select said its 40%-owned unit, Alliance MHI
Properties, Inc. (AMHI), inked a registration agreement with the Philippine
Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) turning AMHI’s two lots measuring a total of
82,016 square meters in Barangay Tambler, General Santos City into an
agro-industrial economic zone dubbed “Foodport Processing Zone” (FPZ).
The agreement
was based on Presidential Proclamation No. 564 dated March 14, 2013 that
designated the eight-hectare area as an agro-industrial economic zone upon the
recommendation of PEZA.
Locators in
the FPZ will enjoy, among others, a 5% tax on gross income in perpetuity,
exemption from all local and national taxes, tax free importation of machinery,
exemption from export taxes and zero-rated value-added tax on local purchases.
Alliance
Select’s tuna cannery, as well as its can manufacturer FDCP, Inc. and smoked
salmon subsidiary, Glory Bay Salmon & Seafood, Inc., are presently inside
the FPZ and will apply to PEZA as locators.
“The
incentives provided by the government will allow Alliance Select to continue
making investments in the processing facilities and further cement its place as
a preferred vendor to some of the globe’s leading supermarket chains.
Furthermore, it will allow the company to offer more competitively-priced
products and have a positive effect on the company’s profitability and
returns,” Alliance said in the disclosure.
“This will
result in increased employment opportunities for the region and contribute to
the nation’s economic prosperity,” Alliance Select added.
Company
shares gained one centavo or 0.49% to P2.07 each yesterday from P2.06 last
Monday.
Alliance
Select added that idle land within FPZ may be leased to new locators.
“This will
give AMHI an additional revenue stream, the benefits of which will also accrue
to Alliance Select,” Alliance added.
Alliance
Select, formerly Alliance Tuna International, Inc., was incorporated in 2003
and began commercial operations in General Santos City in 2004, engaging in
tuna processing, canning, and the export of canned tuna products to Europe and
North America.
The company
swung to a net income of $1.57 million in January to October last year versus a
net loss of $1.14 million in the same period in 2011 due to higher tuna sales.
-- Franz Jonathan G. de la Fuente
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