URC income expands in Jan-sept

Universa l Robina Corp. (URC), the food group of the Gokongwei family, said its income in the January-to-september period rose 12 percent to P8.13 billion, from last year's P7.27 billion, mainly on lower foreign exchange losses, as its revenues remained flat.

URC sales for period, reached P99.77 billion, flat from last year's figures as the pandemic deteriorated trading conditions, and resulted in market contractions, in several snack food and beverage categories the company competes in.

“The current environment continues to pose severe challenges to the business. Weaker consumer sentiment and slowing retail sales in third quarter, plus sluggish macroeconomic fundamentals, are weighing on a slower path to market recovery,” Irwin Lee, the company's president and CEO, said.

“Despite these challenges, we remain focused on operational excellence, business transformation, and investing in building stronger brands and innovation to fuel growth. This focus is helping us perform ahead of market trends. More importantly, this enables us to continue supporting and partnering with our customer and suppliers to serve the needs of our consumers and communities in this time of crisis."

Its income for the July-to-september period alone rose 10 percent to P2.16 billion from last year's P1.96 billion. Revenues, meanwhile, were slightly down to P32.36 billion from last year's P32.74 billion.

For the three quarters, sales of domestic and international branded consumer foods reached P77.4 billion. Domestic revenues were up by a mere 1 percent to P46.5 billion as the growth in powdered beverages, snacks, biscuits and chocolate was offset by the double- digit declines in candies, ready-to- drink beverages and the food service channel.

International revenues reached P30 billion, which was lower by 7 percent in peso terms, as the negative impact of the pandemic in several Asean markets offset the growth in Oceania.

Sales of agro-industrial and commodities businesses reached P22.3 billion, a 9-percent increase from last year's level as the commodities foods group remained buoyant with a revenue growth of 25 percent. Sugar and renewables grew 31 percent, while flour rose by 11 percent year-on-year.

These were offset by the agroindustrial group’s sales decline of 7 percent, due to lower volumes in hogs resulting from its downsized operations.

Last month, URC was able to complete the acquisition of Central Azucarera de La Carlota and Roxol Bioenergy Corp. from Roxas Holdings Inc.