Universal Robina Corporation (Philippines)

The Company is one of the largest branded food product companies in the Philippines and have a growing presence in other Asian markets. It was founded in 1954 when Mr. John Gokongwei, Jr. established Universal Corn Products, a cornstarch manufacturing plant, in Pasig. The Company is currently involved in a wide range of food businesses, including the manufacture and distribution of branded consumer foods, production of hogs and day-old chicks, manufacture of animal and fish feeds, glucose, vegetable oils and veterinary compounds, flour milling, and sugar milling and refining. The Company is the market leader in snack foods, candies, chocolates, biscuits, day-old chicks, and fish feeds.
The Company operates its food business through operating divisions and wholly or majority-owned subsidiaries that are organized into three core busiess segments: branded consumer foods, agro-industrial products and commodity food products.
Branded consumer foods (BCF), including out packaging division, is the Company s largest segment contributing 75.1 of revenues for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2002. Established in the 1960s, the Company s branded consumer foods division manufactures and distibutes a diverse mix of snacks, chocolates, candies, biscuits, beverages, noodles and pasta and tomato-based products. The manufacturing, distribution, sales and marketing activities are carried out through the Company s branded consumer foods division, although the Company conduct some of its branded consumer foods operations through its wholly-owned or majority-owned subsidiaries and joint venture companies (e.g. Hunt-URC, Nissin-URC and Joyco-URC). The Company established URC-Packaging Division to engage in the manufacture of polypropylene films for packaging companies. The bi-axially oriented polypropylene plant (BOPP), located in Batangas, began commercial operation in June 1998. URC also formed Food Service and Industrial Division that supply BCF products in bulk to certain institutions like hotels, restaurants, and schools.