United Breweries puts froth in Q1 profit

Q1 profits up 20% on higher sales of beer, cost cutting

United Breweries (UB) Limited, majority owned by Dutch beverage maker Heineken, said its first quarter profits rose  20.4% to Rs 147.06 crore, on higher realisation and sales of beer in the summer months, while cutting sales and promotion costs.

Net sales rose 8.6% to Rs 1,485.6 crore in the April-June period, the Bengaluru-based UB said in its regulatory filings on Saturday.  UB had reported profits of Rs 122.14 crore on sales of Rs 1,368.03 crore, in the first quarter last year.  

UB saw volume growth of six%, more than half of the industry growth, aided by higher sales in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In Kerala, the government has liberalised policy for beverages, boosting sales for firms such as UB, after it limited liquor sales to star hotels.

Growth in the east was realised in West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand. In Bihar, it made zero sales from ban on liquor, UB said in the notice.

The beverage maker has withheld payment of dividend and Rs 1.6 crore as sitting fees to chairman Vijay Mallya, who is under self-exile in the United Kingdom, on the directions of authorities.

The income-tax department has raised demand of Rs 679.8 crore on Mallya over tax defaults by the defunct Kingfisher Airlines. The debt recovery tribunal in Bengaluru, which is hearing a case against Mallya filed by a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India, has directed UB not to pay any dividend to the UB chairman till it disposes the case.