The Philippines-based food and beverages group, San Miguel Corporation (SMC), has said it expects its first half net income to increase by just short of 30% against the same period last year.

SMC’s chairman and CEO, Eduardo Cojuangco, said the company’s net profit for the first half was likely to rise by just under 30% from the PHP3.01 billion (US$56.4m) in the first six months of 2002.

Cojuangco added that the company was also expecting to register a 30% rise in both revenues and operating income in the January-to-June period.

San Miguel, South East Asia’s largest food and drinks group, controls around 90% of the beer market in the Philippines. The company is 15%-owned by the Japanese brewer, Kirin Brewery Co.