The Philippine specialty manufacturer had a banner year for sales. The harder question is whether those sales can again be converted into cash. In most years, a 36% jump in revenue would be cause for uncomplicated celebration. At D&L Industries , a Philippine maker of food ingredients, oleochemicals, specialty plastics, and outsourced consumer products, sales rose to ₱55.39bn in 2025 , from ₱40.67bn a year earlier. Net income rose too, by 11% to ₱2.59bn . The trouble is that the top line grew much faster than the profit line. Gross profit increased by only 15% to ₱7.21bn , a respectable showing but one that betrayed the nature of the boom: part volume, part pricing, part inflation. D&L sold more, but it also sold costlier molecules. That makes 2025 a useful year for understanding D&L’s business. The company is not a typical consumer manufacturer with brands on supermarket shelves. It is more often hidden inside other firms’ products: the fat in a noodle, the ingredient in ...