Company president Simplicio P. Umali Jr. explained to reporters during a press conference that the company’s significant growth in sales was attained in spite of high cost of raw materials, as much as 15 percent increase in fuel cost that cut sharply on its distribution expenses and very small margin.

Offsetting such negative factors, Umali said, was the wide expansion of its production volume to serve its expanding market.

Also helping Gardenia is the improved local currency against the greenback.

"Had it not for the favorable foreign exchange, it could have been worse," Umali said.

According to Umali, Gardenia’s share in the Metro Manila branded loaf bread segment improved further beyond the 60 percent market, making the company the country’s biggest bread producer.

Including the non-branded bread market, Umali estimated the total bread industry market at between P4 billion to P5 billion.

"This places the Philippine operation of Gardenia in line with its Singapore and Malaysian counterparts where Gardenia Bakeries is also the market leader, with market shares of about 80 percent and 60 percent, respectively," Umali said.

Its existing three loaf bread plants have a total capacity of 190,000 loaves per day and enough to serve the current demand. It has two other plants for buns and snack items.

Sales continue to grow mainly on Classic white loaf bread plus the rapid growth in high fiber wheat bread. Its specialty lines such as the flavored loaves, the health conscious bread, and the snack products contributed to its overall growth as well.

In addition, the company launched new products such as the amazing loaf lines to create market excitement especially with its special flavor bread for the quarter and the no-sugar bread that is perfect for the diet conscious and diabetics.

Other products including the buns and snack items are also contributing to the total pie.