Gokongwei property, food firms post strong income growth

MANILA, Philippines -The property and food manufacturing units of tycoon John Gokongwei showed strong growth in the first quarter of their fiscal year ending September 2012 with their net earnings growing 13 percent and 79 percent, respectively.

Based on separate financial reports submitted to securities regulators, Robinsons Land Corp. and Universal Robina Corp. chalked in net income of P1.15 billion and P2.22 billion, respectively, from October to December 2011.

RLC’s revenues rose 12.6 percent to P3.58 billion, P1.8 billion of which came from the shopping mall business which represented a 14_percent spike from the previous level.

The residential division contributed P1.1 billion while the office building segment, accounting for a tenth of revenues, chipped in P347.7 million.

The hotels division comprising Crowne Plaza, Galleria Manila, Holiday Inn Galleria, Summit Circle Cebu, Summit Ridge Hotel and gohotel.ph, pumped in P341 million.

Meanwhile, URC registered consolidated sales of P18.2 billion, 8.7 percent higher than the P16.74 billion recorded a year before. Taking out the packaging division. Branded consumer Foods Group (BCFG) sales grew 14.6 percent to P13.96 billion.

BCFG domestic sales expanded 12.9 percent to P8.38 billion, mainly due to the strong performance of its beverage division which grew by 28 percent on account of growth in sales volume and increase in prices.

Outside the Philippines, BCFG sales went up 16.9 percent to P5.58 billion due to increases in sales volume and prices by 9.3 percent and seven percent, respectively. This was supported by significant increase in revenues from China, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.