When the Advocate Becomes the Operator: Joey Concepcion’s New Capital Discipline at RFM

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For years, the market has been happy to treat RFM as a steady, cash-generating staples company that also knows how to return money to shareholders—sometimes aggressively. The proof is in the paper trail: in 2025 alone, the company declared ₱1.5 billion in total dividends (₱0.44517/share), a headline-friendly yield that made income investors sit up straight. 

But a subtler—and more consequential—story is now emerging from the footnotes and forward-looking statements: Joey Concepcion, the country’s best-known entrepreneurship advocate, is steering RFM toward a more overtly entrepreneurial posture in capital allocation—spending on capacity and modernization rather than leaving too much cash parked in securities. 

From “Treasury Mindset” to “Founder Mindset”

Concepcion has long worn two hats: the CEO of RFM and the founding trustee behind Go Negosyo, the country’s most prominent pro-entrepreneurship platform. Yet corporate capital allocation often rewards caution—especially for mature consumer companies. The easiest “safe” choice is to keep liquidity high and place excess funds in financial assets like debt securities, building a cushion against commodity cycles and demand shocks. 

RFM has clearly practiced that playbook. As of September 30, 2025, the company reported ₱2.429B in current financial assets at FVOCI and ₱0.923B in noncurrent FVOCI—about ₱3.352B in investable securities carried at fair value through other comprehensive income. That’s not a trivial parking lot for cash. It’s a deliberate liquidity strategy. 

So when management begins emphasizing heavier capital spending and modernization—especially in a business as operationally demanding as cold-chain ice cream—it signals something beyond routine maintenance capex. It suggests intent.

The Tell: “Heavier Spend” in 2026

The strongest “tell” isn’t hidden in an MD&A paragraph—it’s stated plainly in RFM’s January 15, 2026 release, where Concepcion talks about additional capacity and modernization in ice cream over the next few years as Selecta, Magnum, and Cornetto “continue to develop the market.” He follows that with production upgrades in Selecta Milk “to enhance efficiency and yield,” and then the key line: “2026 will see a heavier spend on capital expenditures compared to 2025,” while maintaining a “strong and liquid” balance sheet. 

That is classic founder language—invest behind the curve of demand, widen your moat, and defend category leadership by making the supply side harder to copy.

Why This Matters: Capital Allocation Is Strategy in Disguise

To investors, “capex” is too often treated as a dull line item. But capex is strategy made measurable.

Look at what RFM has been doing financially heading into this shift:

• Cash and cash equivalents dropped from ₱3.162B (Dec 31, 2024) to ₱2.029B (Sep 30, 2025). 
• In the first nine months of 2025, RFM spent ₱439M on property, plant and equipment (net). 
• In the same period, it also had a ₱323M net outflow into FVOCI financial assets—meaning it still allocated funds to securities even while investing in operations. 

This is the nuance: RFM isn’t abandoning prudence. It’s rebalancing. A company can be liquid and ambitious—but the mix tells you what management wants the company to become.

The Operating Backstory: RFM Has Been Investing—Now It’s Leaning In

If you read the annual report like an operator, you notice a long arc of modernization and selective expansion:

• RFM invested ₱1.1B in a new bread buns manufacturing facility using upgraded equipment, with commercial operations starting July 2024. 
• It invested ₱445M to expand milk processing and packaging lines, with operations starting December 2023. 
• The company also describes years of equipment upgrades across flour, sauce, and milk lines to improve efficiency and compliance with manufacturing standards. 

So the “new” story isn’t that RFM discovered capex. The story is that Concepcion is now framing capex as a multi-year growth and modernization program, not just periodic upgrades.

The Dividend Paradox: Paying Out While Powering Up

Here’s where it gets interesting for market watchers. RFM is still very much signaling shareholder returns. The January 2026 declaration is ₱300M (₱0.08903/share) payable February 24, 2026, and Concepcion says this is intended as one of four or five tranches for the year. 

At the same time, he’s telling you capex will be heavier. 

That combination—pay out + invest more—is only credible if (a) cash generation is sturdy, (b) the balance sheet can take it, or (c) management believes returns on invested capital will justify the reinvestment. The company’s preliminary 2025 figures cited in the release—~₱1.6B net income and ₱22.2B revenues—support the confidence narrative, even if unaudited. 

What “More Entrepreneurial” Looks Like in a Big Listed Company

Entrepreneurship in a large cap doesn’t mean taking reckless bets. It means:

1. Doubling down on competitive advantages (cold chain, brand portfolio, distribution reach).
2. Investing ahead of demand in categories where scale and availability shape the market (ice cream is a textbook case).
3. Using operational efficiency upgrades (Selecta Milk yield/efficiency) to protect margins in a price-sensitive consumer environment. 
4. Treating idle cash as expensive—because cash sitting in securities can be safe, but it can also be an opportunity cost when your brands can compound faster than your bond portfolio.

RFM’s sizable FVOCI book (₱3.352B as of Sep 2025) shows the old discipline of liquidity-first. The new messaging suggests a pivot to “liquidity-with-purpose.” 

Risks Worth Naming (Because Entrepreneurs Don’t Ignore Them)

A capex push is not automatically bullish. It introduces execution risks:

• Project and commissioning risk (delays, cost overruns, ramp-up inefficiencies).
• Demand risk if the consumer environment weakens or competitors respond with price aggression.
• Margin risk if modernization doesn’t translate into measurable yield, uptime, or distribution advantage.

But the company is at least acknowledging the balancing act—heavier capex while keeping the balance sheet “strong and liquid.” 

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Bottom Line

Joey Concepcion has always talked entrepreneurship. What’s notable now is that he appears to be deploying capital like an operator-entrepreneur: investing into capacity, modernization, and efficiency—particularly in ice cream and milk—rather than over-indexing on passive securities. 

For RFM shareholders, this is the strategic question to watch in 2026 and beyond:

Can RFM keep the dividend machine running while turning capex into a measurable growth flywheel? 

If yes, the company evolves from “steady payer” to “steady payer with compounding”—and that’s when the market may start valuing RFM less like a conservative staples name and more like a brand-led operator that’s willing to build its next leg of growth. 

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