the Outsider - PSE Points to Ponder

Monde Nissin Corp. has done more than raise its dividend. It has sent a message. By approving a regular cash dividend of ₱0.24 per share on March 25, 2026 , payable on May 21, 2026, to stockholders of record as of April 24, 2026 , the company has delivered what looks like a deliberate vote of confidence in the strength of its balance sheet and the direction of its business. The source of payment is explicitly identified as unrestricted retained earnings as of December 31, 2025 , which matters because it tells investors this is not a symbolic gesture financed by strain, but a distribution backed by accumulated capacity.  The increase is significant by any practical measure. The new ₱0.24-per-share payout is 60 percent higher than the ₱0.15-per-share dividend MONDE declared in March 2025 and  50 percent higher than the ₱0.16-per-share dividend approved in November 2025. On a yearly basis, MONDE’s regular cash dividends rose from ₱0.26 per share in 2024 —made up of ₱0.12 ...

There is a certain futility in trying to trade the Philippine market as if one were sitting on the policy committee of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas or in the middle of the global oil trade. Retail investors do not control the peso-dollar exchange rate, and they certainly do not control the price of crude. The BSP’s own data show the peso averaging ₱59.16 per dollar in January 2026 and ₱58.28 in February 2026 , while bank indicative retail rates have already shown the dollar at ₱60.00 buying and ₱60.50 selling as of March 23, 2026. Oil is even more unruly: the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed Brent moving from roughly $89.84 to $103.23 per barrel and WTI from about $83.71 to $98.48 over just a few trading days in March, while the International Energy Agency described the latest Middle East shock as the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market . That is precisely why the small investor must focus on the part of the game he actually can play. ...