URC allocates at least P8B for 2025 capex
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Universal Robina Corp. (URC), the food manufacturing unit of the Gokongwei Group, is looking to spend at least P8 billion this year, with a focus on expanding its facilities and capacity.
According to URC president and chief executive officer Irwin Lee, the company is allocating around P8 billion to P9 billion for its capital expenditures (capex), which will be funded internally as the company has decreased its borrowing in the past year.
In terms of expansion, Lee said the company has identified a site in San Fernando, Cebu, where the company is building a new plant. It is also expanding its sugar mill facilities in Negros Occidental and in Balayan, Batangas.
Last November, URC opened its flour milling plant in Sariaya, Quezon, which can produce 3,500 metric tons of flour daily.
“We are doing a lot of expansions in our infrastructure, in our capacity. We’re opening up some new factories and some infrastructure developments in the Philippines as well as outside of the Philippines,” Lee told reporters on the sidelines of The Business Manual CEO Awards, where he was one of the awardees.
“I think the combination of these efforts will hopefully lead us to better volume growth, and that’s what we are seeing,” he added.
For this year, Lee said the company is looking to grow its revenues by mid- to high-single digits and its bottom line a little behind.
“We’re looking for about mid- to high-single-digit growth overall that will be driven by a lot, you know, of return to growth in the Philippines but also a continuation of our very good growth internationally,” Lee said.
“International we see as a growth engine. We’ve been able to build our margins in the last [few] years, and now we’re pushing the growth in international. Right now we’re focused on ASEAN because it’s close to home,” he added.
URC's overseas subsidiaries are located in the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
Lee said revenues are also expected to be boosted by the upcoming midterm elections, but inflation remains a concern.
“Inflation in selective input cost continues to be an issue. I mean people will read about the high cost of coffee and the high cost of cocoa beans. So there are still selected commodities and ingredients that still have high inflationary pressure,” he said. — VBL, GMA Integrated News
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