Universal Robina Corp said it expects sales for the current year to September 2006 to reach P38 billion as it triples production at its iced tea business. The food and beverage unit of conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc. earlier reported net sales of P22.8 billion for the nine months to June, up 14.8 percent year-on-year. It has yet to report its financial performance for the past fiscal year. In a disclosure to the stock exchange, Universal Robina also confirmed a newspaper report that the company will start a second $10 million iced tea production line next week and a third in December. Universal Robina said its iced tea drink under the C2 brand will boost its ready-to-drink business by 10 percent to 12 percent of the total. No other details were provided in its disclosure.
Apart from the Philippines, Universal Robina also has factories in China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam.