URC bottom line up 26%

Gokongwei-led Universal Robina Corp. grew its net profit in the first nine months of its current fiscal year by 25.9 percent year-on-year to P12.03 billion, driven by higher domestic sales of brand consumer food and treasury gains.

For the quarter ending June, net profit attributable to shareholders of parent rose by 21.3 percent year-on-year to P3.76 billion, the food and beverage firm said in a filing.

URC’s core earnings before tax—referring to operating profit after equity earnings, net finance costs and other income—hit P12.54 billion, up 2.9 percent year-on-year.

URC also reported a net foreign exchange gain of P1.14 billion during the nine-month period, a turnaround from a P254-million net foreign exchange loss a year ago. This was due to the combined effects of appreciation of international subsidiaries’ local currencies against the US dollar, particularly the Indonesian rupiah and New Zealand dollar, and the depreciation of the peso against US dollar.  It also posted gains from the market valuation of financial assets of P852.6 million versus a loss of about P47 million a year ago.

Consolidated sales for the period ending June rose by 4.2 percent year-on-year to P85.37 billion, buoyed by the branded consumer foods segment which firmed up by 2.6 percent to P69.73 billion.

The international operations of branded consumer food posted a slight drop in net sales to P24.65 billion in the nine-month period from P24.84 billion in the same period last year. In constant US dollar terms, URC said sales rose by 2 percent year-on-year to $526 million despite the regulatory issues encountered in Vietnam, which had affected both sales and profitability.

Most countries managed to grow sales with Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia as contributors. New Zealand posted growth in volume as Griffin’s business have started stabilizing through improved pricing and margins and new product developments, URC reported.

URC’s agro-industrial business also grew by 2.6 percent year-on-year to P6.83 billion while the commodity foods segment expanded by 23.4 percent to P7.97 billion for the nine-month period.