Gokongwei food, property businesses post profit drops

UNIVERSAL Robina Corp. (URC), the food group of the Gokongwei family, said its income fell nearly 14 percent to P6.38 billion from last year’s P7.4 billion, while Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) profits plunged 9 percent.

The former cited lower foreign gains as reason for the income drop, while the latter blamed such on the poor performance of its residential division.

In its disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, URC said its operating income dropped 8 percent to P7.614 billion, due to a decline in volumes in the branded consumer foods in the Philippines and additional investments in Vietnam to recover the business.

Net sales rose 9 percent to P60.79 billion, for the first six months of calendar year ending June, driven by strong performances of branded consumer foods in Thailand, farms and sugar and renewables, and the additional sales of Snack Brands Australia.

The Philippine operations including packaging division sustained a flat income, while international division grew by 27 percent.

Sales of nonbranded consumer foods group, which is composed of agro-industrial group and commodity foods group, were up by 10.6 percent with growth of 5.4 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, RLC’s income fell 9 percent to P2.91 billion for the six-month period ending June, from last year’s P3.22 billion.

Total real-estate revenues were flat at P10 billion, while hotel revenues were up by 7 percent to P919.2 million.

The commercial centers division contributed 48 percent of the total, or P5.24 billion, to the company’s gross revenues, posting a 6-percent growth due to full-year rental revenue contribution of lifestyle centers opened in 2015 and revenue contribution of the new malls and two mall expansions opened in 2016.

The residential division contributed 30 percent, or P3.34 billion, to the company’s revenues. Earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization, however, fell 18 percent to P949.9 million.

The office buildings division contributed 14 percent, or P1.5 billion, to the company’s revenues, while the hotels division contributed 8 percent, or P919.2 million.