URC sees 2-digit growth this year

Universal Robina Corp. (URC), the food and beverage arm of taipan John Gokongwei’s JG Summit Holdings Inc., sees its operating income growing double digit in its fiscal year ending September this year due to the robust performance of its domestic branded consumer foods business and improving overseas operations.

On the sidelines of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ 2013 Bankers Night Friday, JG Summit president Lance Gokongwei said the group’s flagship branded consumer foods business

will remain the major driver of growth as the company benefits from strong domestic consumption owing to a growing economy.

“We are quite positive that the strong momentum of our domestic consumer food business will be sustained. We are also seeing improvements on the international front,” Gokongwei said.

Sales of the international branded consumer foods group rose by only 4.9 percent for the fiscal year ending September 2012 to P20.16 billion or $471 million.

In earlier filings, URC said it expects revenues from international operations to hit $551 million for fiscal year ending September 2013.

Preliminary fourth quarter figures showed a recovery, with overall sales growing with Thailand and Vietnam estimated to account for over 70 percent of total sales.

Gokongwei said business in Thailand is slowly recovering on the back of aggressive marketing and launch of new products.

URC manufactures, markets and distributes consumer food products under its own brands in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Plans are now underway to set up shop in Burma as the company sees international operations growing as big as its domestic business in five years.

International operations currently account for about a third URC’s total business.