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Anna Milagros David
Universal Robina Corporation
The Gokongweis’ food and beverage manufacturer credits 'Mian' David for the revival of its Great Taste coffee and making C2 the 'dominant leader' in ready-to-drink tea in the Philippines with a nearly 85% market share
MANILA, Philippines – Universal Robina Corporation (URC) has appointed Anna Milagros “Mian” David as the first president of its branded consumer foods (BCF) business in the Philippines.
In a statement, URC said David will be tasked with setting strategic initiatives to strengthen URC’s market leadership and drive sustainable growth.
Prior to her stint with URC, David spent 17 years in Unilever before eventually joining URC in 2018 as vice president for beverages.
The Gokongweis’ food and beverage (F&B) manufacturer credits David for the revival of Great Taste coffee and for “reengineering” its ready-to-drink tea brand C2 in the Philippines.
URC said David helped grow the sales of C2 “while improving profitability, cementing its place as the dominant leader” in that beverage segment. As of September 2024, C2 had a market share of 84.8% in the Philippines.
David was then appointed managing director of URC International (URCI) and the company’s chief marketing officer.
In the three years she led URC International, David launched new products that brought in 8% of URCI’s incremental sales.
According to URC’s investor briefing in November, URC biscuits captured 14.5% of the market share in Thailand and 25.1% in Malaysia.
Image from Universal Robina Corporation’s nine-month 2024 earnings briefingMeanwhile, URC became Vietnam’s number two player in ready-to-drink tea, capturing 23.5% of the market.
As David takes the helm of BCF Philippines, David said they want to focus on capturing a bigger slice of the market.
“We want to focus on driving topline and market share, and we will do that by remembering our mission: to delight the people we serve,” David said.
URC posted a 17.6% drop in its nine-month bottomline to P8.02 billion in 2024 due to lower profits in its sugar and renewables business.
Sales of the Gokongweis’ F&B manufacturer, meanwhile, saw a one-percent improvement to P118.9 billion with volume-led growth tempered by product mix and lower foreign exchange gains.
URC’s Piattos snack got a lot of free publicity last year after it was discovered in House hearings on Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential and intelligence funds that one of the signatories on the acknowledgement receipts was a certain “Mary Grace Piattos,” who turned out to be fictitious.
URC snacks combined had a 34.5% market share as of September 2024, making it the leader in that segment, the company said. Other famous snacks of URC are Chippy and Cream-O biscuit.
Other business enterprises of the Gokongwei Group also saw recent leadership changes.
Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC) welcomed its first female president and CEO, Maria Socorro Isabelle “Mybelle” Aragon-GoBio, effective February 1, replacing Lance Gokongwei.
Robina Gokongwei-Pe handed over the leadership of Robinsons Retail Corporation to Stanley Co effective January 1. – Rappler.com
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