Gokongwei firm focuses on Asean expansion plan

The roadmap for the next five to six years was to double the branded food business to US$3 billion, which would imply an annual growth rate of 12-15 per cent, URC vice president for corporate planning and investor relations chief Mike Liwanag said at the recent briefing for BPI Securities clients.

URC's net sales for fiscal year 2013 was seen hitting 80.7 billion pesos from 71.2 billion pesos the previous year while cash flow based on earnings before interest and taxes was projected to rise to 10 billion pesos from 7.8 billion pesos, based on Liwanag's presentation.

To fund its expansion plans, URC still has about 46 million treasury-held shares that could be reissued to the market if the company needed to raise fresh funds, Liwanag said.

URC is increasing its capital spending to $150 million in 2014 from $120 million in the past few years as the company ventures into Myanmar in the next six months, he said.

The biggest market to date is Vietnam, where it sells $240 million worth of products against the $1-billion Philippine market where it has been operating for 53 years.

Based on a growth trajectory of 17 percent a year, URC's Vietnam business could hit $1 billion in 10 years, Liwanag said, which indicated that Vietnam "Could be the next Philippines." "The Vietnamese don't consume a lot of potato chips or chocolate bars. We're trying to teach them to snack Western style," he said.