Monde Nissin takes another massive Quorn 'L'

MB bottom-line: Few things have made less sense to me than MONDE’s obsession with Quorn. I’m not a MONDE shareholder, but if I were, I’d be pretty angry about the nearly P40 billion in impairment charges that shareholders have been forced to swallow thanks to Quorn’s continuing top-line and bottom-line weakness. Quorn sucks, and just about the only good thing that we can say about it is that the adversity makes MONDE’s guidance that it will turn a net income and have enough unrestricted retained earnings to consider dividends all the more impressive.

It’s like if we consider the world of business to be a marathon, and MONDE is running that marathon next to all the other competitors, but instead of a little belt with gels and electrolyte pills to help it push through the final 15 kilometers, it decided to wear a backpack filled with concrete. In this case, yes, the concrete is a clever metaphor for Quorn, both in terms of its uselessness as a running aid and business segment, but also in terms of its taste when integrated into various recipes. But back to the race, MONDE is struggling and sweating. MONDE is making deals with the devil in its head. Gripping the straps of the backpack tight, MONDE digs deep, scrapes its soul raw, and finishes the marathon in just over six hours. Most of the other runners have already finished and showered. Sure, the walkers are still out on the course, but MONDE finished that race with the concrete in its backpack. It beat the walkers! But -- hear me out -- what if MONDE just dropped the backpack in the first 5 kilometers when the strain of carrying it first became overwhelmingly apparent? There are no special prizes for finishing the race with a backpack full of concrete. It’s just, did you finish, and if so, how long did it take?