Universal Robina Corporation, the food and beverages unit of JG Summit Holdings, reported that its unaudited net income for the first quarter of its fiscal year ending September 2010 surged 949.1 percent to P1.97 billion from losses of P232 million in the same period in 2009.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said the dramatic turnaround is due to higher operating income, improvement in market values of bond and equity holdings coupled by lower finance costs.

URC’s unaudited core earnings before tax (operating profit after equity earnings, net finance revenue and other income) for the three months of fiscal 2010 amounted to P2.36 billion, an increase of 198 percent from P793 million reported in the same period last year.

Net income attributable to equity holders of the parent increased by 850 percent to P1.85 billion for the three months of fiscal 2010 from a loss of P246 million in the same period last year.

URC generated a consolidated sale of goods and services of P14.37 billion for the three months ended December 31, 2009, 8.3 percent higher than the revenues posted in the same period last year.

Sale of goods and services in URC’s branded consumer food group (BCFG), excluding packaging division, increased by 3.0 percent to P10.45 billion for the three months of fiscal 2010 from P10.15 billion registered in the same period of last year.

Domestic sales increased to P6.99 billion from P6.94 billion, largely driven by the strong performance of its beverage division which posted a 10.4 percent growth due to surge in volume of C2 Green Tea, coffee and creamer and sales take-off of new beverage products.

Sales of grocery products improved by 15.5 percent to P907 million due to strong noodles sales.

BCFG international sales significantly increased by 7.8 percent to P3.46 billion from P3.212 billion posted in the same period last year. In dollars, sales rose 12.1 percent from $66 million posted for the three months of fiscal 2009 to $74 million due to the 27.6 percent increase in sales volume. This was supported by higher revenues from Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.

Sales in URC’s packaging division went down by 31.8 percent to P195 million for the three months of fiscal 2010 from P286 million posted in the same period last year due to decrease in sales volume and commodity prices worldwide.

Meanwhile, sale of goods and services in URC’s agro-industrial group amounted to P1.75 billion for the three months of fiscal 2010, a 16 percent increase from P1.509 billion recorded in the same period last year.