Varun Beverages edges higher after decent Q2 performance

Varun Beverages advanced 3.80% to Rs 505.15 after the company reported 5% increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,325.49 crore in Q2 CY2025 from Rs 1,261.83 crore in Q2 CY2024.

The growth in PAT was driven by operational efficiencies and lower finance cost.

Net revenue from operations decreased by 2.5% YoY to Rs 7,017.37 crore in Q2 CY2025.

Consolidated sales volume declined by 3.0% to 389.7 million cases in Q2 CY2025 from 401.6 million cases in Q2 CY2024, primarily due to abnormally high unseasonal rainfall throughout the quarter in India.

India volumes declined by 7.1%, while international volumes grew by 15.1% (South Africa growing at 16.1%), partially offsetting the overall decline.

Net realisation per case at the consolidated level improved by 0.5%, driven by 6.6% improvement in the International markets.

EBITDA increased by 0.4% in Q2 CY2025 to Rs 1,998.77 crore from Rs 1,991.22 crore in Q2 CY2024.

EBITDA margins increased by 82 bps in Q2 CY2025 to 28.5% from 27.7% in Q2 CY2024, in-spite of increase in fixed overheads due to new capacity being commissioned at four greenfield plants in India which all are yet to yield incremental volumes.

Ravi Jaipuria, chairman, Varun Beverages, said: "We delivered a resilient performance during the quarter.

In-spite of unusually early onset of monsoon rains in the peak summer months in India, we could keep our realizations per case and EBITDA margins intact. Due to growth in international markets supported by strong positive currency movement in Africa territories, company ended the quarter with a positive PAT, in-spite of 3% decline in consolidated sales volumes.

In International markets, Varun Beverages Morocco has commenced commercial production of PepsiCos snacks product 'Cheetos.

We continue to focus on growth opportunities in South Africa market. We have enhanced capacity by setting up a can line in Durban, one of our existing production facilities. We are awaiting approval from Competition Commission of South Africa for land parcel purchase adjoining to our production facility in Boksburg to further enhance capacity & backward integration.

Strong currency and our efforts in implementing backward integration last year have resulted in enhanced profitability in all our African territories. We have further strengthened Zambia, DRC and South Africa subsidiary balance sheets and through in-process equity infusion raising our stake in Zambia from 90% to 95%.

Although unseasonal rains have impacted performance during the quarter, we have successfully navigated such challenges in the past and emerged stronger. We continue to strengthen our on-ground execution by adding more visi-coolers and ensuring wider product availability across retail touchpoints.

Varun Beverages (VBL) is a key player in beverage industry and one of the largest franchisee of PepsiCo in the world (outside USA). The company produces and distributes a wide range of carbonated soft drinks (CSDs), as well as a large selection of non-carbonated beverages (NCBs), including packaged drinking water sold under trademarks owned by PepsiCo.

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