Moody's ups Universal Robina

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded its local-currency corporate family rating for Philippines-based Universal Robina Corp. to Ba2 from Ba3 and affirmed the Ba3 foreign-currency rating for the senior unsecured bonds issued by URC Philippines Ltd. and guaranteed by Universal Robina.

The outlook is stable.

This rating, which is in line with the foreign-currency country ceiling for the Philippines, reflects Moody's view that Universal Robina's performance has been solid and that it has a resilient business model. Universal Robina continues to maintain healthy credit metrics, with a debt-to-EBITDA ratio of about 3x, Moody's said.

These strengths are tempered by the company's relatively modest size by global standards, its aggressive financial policy, which often uses up its financial cushion, and its low efficiency in terms of return on assets ratios, the agency said.

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