Universal Robina Corp. (URC), the Gokongwei Group’s food and beverage unit, is targeting mid-single-digit growth in revenues, while earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) are seen rising at a faster pace, although it remains wary that a prolonged war in the Middle East could affect consumer spending.

During the Philippine Stock Exchange’s (PSE) STAR Investor Day on Thursday, May 14, URC Director for Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations Juan Miguel T. Manalang said, “We are targeting a mid-single-digit volume-led revenue growth supported by branded business which is positioned for high single-digit growth.”

He said they expect revenue from commodities to continue declining due to softer sugar prices, which had already weighed down EBIT in the first quarter.

However, Manalang said sugar prices may rise in the coming crop year as fertilizer prices have surged to almost double in the Philippines due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, since the Middle East is a major source of urea.

Because of this, farmers have been using less fertilizer, and this will affect productivity together with the expected El Niño phenomenon, which will come at a time when diesel for irrigation pumps is more expensive.

“Now, obviously, the government can also import some sugar to ease supply. So, we’ll see,” he added.

Meanwhile, Manalang said, “we continue to expect EBIT growth to outpace top line” as the company takes measures to improve operational efficiencies, reduce costs, and implement disciplined pricing.

“What has changed is the added uncertainty from the United States (US)-Iran conflict, particularly on logistics and certain inputs. We have quantified these exposures and are already mitigating them through a broader supply bench, selected forward coverage, targeted buffers… and tighter end-to-end shipment monitoring,” he said.

However, Manalang said that “if higher oil prices feed into broader inflation, consumption could soften in some pockets. We are managing this with better price architecture, sharper promo discipline, and flexibility to recalibrate spend by category as elasticity signals emerge.”

URC is also mitigating the impact of higher costs through price increases, which already started this month, and he said, “Where we have market leadership and we are a price-setter, we try to pass on pricing responsibly to our consumers. In categories where we are not number one, we have generally been following the leaders who, by and large, have been rational players.”

However, URC is being very careful about managing pricing, particularly around products targeted at value-conscious consumers and those positioned around key price points.

“Overall, we remain committed to our guidance. We like the momentum of the business. We have tangible actions in place to manage the near-term risks, and we believe our execution-focused position sets us up well to deliver our targets for 2026,” Manalang said.