MANILA, Philippines - Gokongwei-led Universal Robina Corp., reported a 12 percent growth in net income in the first nine months of its fiscal year to P9.65 billion.
Net sales grew 18.3 percent to P81.94 billion from October 2014 to June this year.
The strong growth in sales was mainly driven by branded foods and complemented by sugar and feeds.
“Philippine branded consumer foods (BCF) business increased sales by 10.9 percent while international branded consumer foods recorded a 38.4 percent growth with the consolidation of Griffin’s New Zealand results starting mid-November upon closing of the acquisition,” URC said.
Operating income rose 24.1 percent to P13.06 billion mainly due to lower input prices such as palm oil, creamer, PET resin and additional operating leverage resulting in margin expansion for branded foods.
“Growth was slower than operating income as we booked higher net finance cost, equity share in net losses of joint ventures we started recently namely Calbee-URC, Inc. and Danone Universal Robina Beverages Inc. and unrealized foreign exchange losses mainly coming from our Indonesia operations,” URC said.
Last year, URC signed agreements with Danone Asia and Japan’s largest snack company Calbee.
Non-branded consumer foods group increased 12.5 percent due to higher sales volume for sugar and feeds which grew 39.4 percent and 19.9 percent, respectively.
URC’s branded consumer foods group including the packaging division likewise grew 19.5 percent to P68.83 billion.
BCF Philippines recorded double-digit sales growth of 10.9 percent amounting to P43.14 billion.
URC’s international BCF business, meanwhile, registered sales of P24.84 billion, up 38.4 percent year on year.
“Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia contributed to the strong top-line growth,” URC said.
“We have also started consolidating Griffin’s into URC International starting mid-November upon closing of the acquisition. Thailand posted double digit growth of 11.7 percent despite a relatively weak macro environment and consumer sentiment backed by our core brands, new products launches and continuation of promotional activities,” URC added.