Who owns Payless?
Payless, a food brand, is owned by URC (the Philippines, PSE: URC).[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Universal Robina Corporation — SEC Form 17-A for the year ended 31 December 2025. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Universal Robina Corporation reported
- Owner HQ
- 🇵🇭 Philippines, Quezon City
- Origin
- 🇵🇭 Philippines
- Category
- Food › Meals & meal components › Pasta
- Parent ticker
- PSE: URC
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Payless
Payless is Universal Robina's own brand of instant noodles in pouches, sold separately from the Nissin cup noodles it makes through a joint venture. URC positions Payless as affordable food for times of calamity and financial hardship, and the 2025 Brand Footprint study counted it among the most chosen food brands in the Philippines.
Ownership timeline of Payless
Where Payless sits in URC
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full URC ownership tree →
See the full URC brand portfolio (7) →
Other brands owned by URC
URC controls 7 brands on Brandtree, 4 of them in food.
Also in food
Other brands in pasta, and who owns them
The 121 brands in pasta on Brandtree belong to 63 owners. The largest is Ebro Foods, with 15.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Bertagni | Ebro Foods | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| Indomie | Indofood | 🇮🇩 Indonesia |
| Camil | Camil | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| Mimee | Dufil Prima Foods | 🇳🇬 Nigeria |
| Don Vicente | Molinos | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
| Corticella | Newlat Group | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
| Chikin Ramen | Nissin Foods | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| La Cantonesa | CMI | 🇬🇹 Guatemala |
About the owner: URC
URC is a publicly listed company headquartered in Quezon City, Philippines, founded in 1954. Brandtree records 7 brands under its control, and it is listed as PSE: URC.
Universal Robina Corporation is one of the largest branded food and beverage companies in the Philippines and a core subsidiary of the conglomerate JG Summit Holdings. It was founded in 1954 when John Gokongwei Jr. set up Universal Corn Products, a cornstarch plant in Pasig. Branded consumer foods made up about 68 per cent of 2025 revenue, led by Jack 'n Jill snacks, C2 tea and Great Taste coffee, alongside animal feed, flour and sugar milling; it bought Malaysia's Munchy's biscuits in 2021.
🇵🇭 Payless and other Filipino brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 97 brands that began in the Philippines. 4 of them (4%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; Payless is not one of them.
- 555 — Century Pacific 🇵🇭
- Choco Mucho — Rebisco 🇵🇭
- Dari Crème — San Miguel Food and Beverage 🇵🇭
- Del Monte (Philippines) — Del Monte Pacific 🇻🇬
- Fiesta — RFM 🇵🇭
- Fita — Monde Nissin 🇵🇭
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Payless?
The parent company of Payless is URC, a publicly listed company headquartered in the Philippines.
Is Payless Filipino?
Yes. Payless originated in the Philippines and its owner, URC, is also headquartered in the Philippines.
Is Payless still owned by URC?
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, Payless is still owned by URC. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Universal Robina Corporation — SEC Form 17-A for the year ended 31 December 2025 — Universal Robina Corporation, Annual report; retrieved 16 September 2026.
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