Ub To Uncork Low-Alcohol Kingfisher Beer

For those who don't want to get tipsy, but still want to have a mug of beer or for those who don't want to add to their bulging girth, UB Ltd will soon launch a low alcohol variant of its flagship brand, Kingfisher.

"We should launch the variant within two-three months," divisional vice-president Shekhar Ramamurthy said. Expected to be named Kingfisher Sport, the brand will have a mere 3.5 per cent alcohol content compared with over 4.5 per cent in rest of the variants.

"It will be an up-market product which will have 25 per cent less calorific content than other varieties of beer," marketing manager Ramesh Vishwanathan said.

 

Vishwanathan said the low alcohol content beers brands are extremely popular in the west. With this launch, UB Ltd will have a beer variant in most categories. Among its recent launches are Kingfisher Strong, Ice Beer, London No 1 strong which has around 8 per cent alcohol content.

UB is also planning to increase its market share to around 50 per cent of the beer market. "We want to capture at least 50 per cent of the beer market within three years," Ramamurthy said. The beer division sold 26 million cases in 2000-01 and plans to sell over 35 million during the current year.

Ramamurthy said packaging of various brands will be upgraded to make it more attractive apart from strengthening distributor network. Among the brands, UB Ltd has in its stable include, UB Ice, UB Export, Kingfisher and Kingfisher strong, London No1 and strong, Kalyani Black Label and London Pilsner.

Ramamurthy said the company was in talks with San Miguel for extending the licence to market the brand in India. Ramamurthy said at present there are no plans to contract a cricketer as a brand ambassador. Earlier, cricketers Saurav Ganguly and Ajay Jadeja were brand ambassadors for Kingfisher brand.

Ramamurthy said even though there has been a decline in beer sales of around 10 per cent in Karnataka during April-June quarter, UB Ltd has been able to hold on to its volume.

UB Group had last year announced plans to demerge UB Ltd and focus on its main core beer business which would enable the company shares to be listed abroad and make it attractive for foreign investors to pick up equity.

Kotak Mahindra has already started receiving offers from international beer majors for forging ties with UB Ltd. The group has announced that it is willing to allow up to 26 per cent in the restructured UB Ltd for a foreign beer major.

...Q1 net staggers 65%

UB Ltd recorded a 65 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 1.67 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal from Rs 4.81 crore in the corresponding period last year. However, the company's sales grew by 11 per cent to Rs 110.01 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal from Rs 99.28 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.