Beverage seen driving URC growth

Manila Bulletin
April 24, 2006

Beverage seen driving URC growth

 

 

By JAMES A. LOYOLA

Universal Robina Corporation is counting on its beverage division, whose products are becoming increasingly popular, to lead the growth in the company’s earnings this fiscal year.

URC president Lance Gokongwei said one of their strategies going forward is to continue growing the non-carbonated beverage segment, along with maximizing asset utilization and expanding URC’s distribution network.

 

"Definitely, the beverage division is the fastest growing segment in URC," he said adding that they will stir up the market even more by introducing three new beverage products to spearhead the growth of this segment.

 

These products are /Bull Fighter/ (an energy drink) /Rush /(a fitness drink) and /Teazz /(a carbonated tea drink). "The soft launch of /Bull Fighter /and /Rush /indicate strong market acceptance," said Gokongwei.

 

URC managed to carve a name for itself in the non-carbonated drink segment following the overwhelming success of its C2 Cool & Clean Green Tea ready-to-drink iced tea brand.

 

The company also has four production lines for its beverage products in the Philippines and one in Vietnam. "We’re hoping to increase our production lines in the Philippines to six this fiscal year," the Gokongwei said.

 

In addition, the company expressed bullishness about the prospects of its C2 brand in Vietnam. He said they have expanded C2 in Vietnam last week and the early signs were positive.

 

"We’re quite confident on the prospects of the product. Vietnamese are tea drinkers, so the transition to this product will be easy," Gokongwei said.

 

Meanwhile, URC is planning to introduce new products in Thailand and focus its entry into the socalled functional segment category.

 

"We’ll be expanding our existing lines of biscuits and candies in Thailand," said Gokongwei. "We will enter the functional segment of the candy category to take advantage of health and wellness shift of the market."

 

In the first quarter of its 2006 fiscal year (September to December 2005), URC posted a net income of P709 million from P550 million in net income during the same period of the previous fiscal year.

 

In terms of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, URC posted P1.96 billion in the first quarter from P1.44 billion in EBITDA the previous year.

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